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Sexing Clown Loaches


BOG6ON

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I have 3 clown loaches in my display tank. In the last Week or 2, 2 of them at fist looked like they were doing the breeding dance, taking turns of dancing round in circles nose to tale, but in last couple of days they have been lip locked and looking like they want to tear each other apart. The other one cruises past every now and then as if to look at whats going on and then goes back to the same little cave. Could this be a territorial thing or could this be 2 males fighting over one male?

All help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Luke

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2 males fighting over one male?

All help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Luke

dunno but if they are fighting over that male looks you have 3 gay clown loaches :8

My bad! That was supposed to say 2 males fighting over 1 female. :thumb

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Sexing clown loaches externally is hard, but possible by looking at the tail fin. The tail fin tips on the male are slightly bent inwards, making the fin look a little bit like a claw. The tail fin tips on the females aren't shaped like this. Females are smaller and more slender.

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Hey Luke,

I have no idea about clowns but was wondering...

How big are the clowns?

I would imagine that these would have to be a decent size before showing any signs of breeding behavior.

Cheers

Joel

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  • 1 month later...

Come on Luke

What size?? Most C/L's play/ fight all the time.

Just their way of playing no harm done.

I would be thinking if anywhere near size of breeding???

12cm+???

Josh says his mate spawned some??

Never seen any fry myself but I believe Josh.

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From my experience I'd say they are just fighting for dominance. I have 4 large clowns 15cm n2t and the second the third largest often have a tiff with the largest. (They also go completely gray sometimes when they do this).

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  • 2 months later...

After having a major disaster and losing almost all my community tank, I in my grief turned off the light and didn’t go back for MONTHS. I know it was stupid and childish but I just couldn’t look at my almost empty tank.

I did feel sorry for the few inhabitants that survived and tossed in a pinch of dry food every now and then, maybe once a week if they were lucky.

Then I found one on my 3 surviving clowns floating, dead.

For some reason this spurned me on, I did a water change, the first in many months. Over the following weeks I have brought the tank back – I even turn the light on !

The initial survivors were 3 clowns, 1 BN and one random tetra, a Hockey Stick I think the FS guys said it was.

Anyway, it’s been about a week with the vastly improved conditions, and I keep losing 1 clown. After hours of staring into the tank I finally found it, buried under a deep mound/cave. The 2nd clown comes by but never goes in to this cave.

I did a quick web search on clowns breading behaviors and they don’t seem to be quite right, but one similar thing was, breeding can be triggered once optimal conditions return, after they have been exposed to harsh tank conditions.

So, after all this rambling, do clowns cave dwell in the breeding process ?

This clown has almost buried it's/ (herself - assumption) in a pile of 2 – 5cm river pebbles.

They are around 12cm – and bout 4 years old. One does look more stream-line than the other, making me think I do have 1 male & 1 female.

Oh – sorry Luke if I seem to be hijacking your thread, not my intention. But I thought our situations were so similar – I couldn’t help but asking what my clowns were up to, too.

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Clowns need to be alot larger then 12cm to be bred. When i looked into breeding them I came to the conclusion they would need to be at the least 20cm. Most recorded breeding accounts state their clowns were 25cm & over.

Luke, my guess is it is a dominance thing. Give them a few days and it should be sorted.

Pix, clown loaches hide in any cave, nook and cranny they can get in to. Its one of their famous natural behaviours. I can say with 100% confidence that your clowns are not breeding.

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