Tankmates Albino bristlenose Pleco's and Clown Loaches

gofish · Post by **gofish** » 05 Sep 2006, 21:01

Does anyone know if it would be ok to keep only Albino BN Pleco's and Clown Loaches in a 50 gallon long tank?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 06 Sep 2006, 13:53

That should be no problem.

Zebrapl3co · Post by **Zebrapl3co** » 06 Sep 2006, 17:15

Yup, but understand that eventually, your clown loach will out grow your tank and you'll need to get a bigger one. Don't expect your pleco to breed, as the eggs and wriggler will be eaten by the loaches.

Crazie.Eddie · Post by **Crazie.Eddie** » 07 Sep 2006, 08:38

Loaches grow at a very slow rate, so you could keep them in a 50 gallon tank for a long time. If the plecos are guarding eggs, then the loaches will not try to steal them to eat them. I'm not sure how big the wrigglers are, but if small enough, most fish will usually try to eat them, due to their hunting instincts. This is why you can stimulate a fishes appetite with live foods.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 07 Sep 2006, 12:21

Bristlenose babies are around 8-10mm SL when they are relaeased by the male, and I definitely think that a large clown loach will eat them. I haven't kept clown loaches, so I can't say for sure what size they will start eatching them, but if small clown loaches can eat snails, they wouldn't have a problem with bristlenose babies...

Of course, this is only a problem if you're actually wanting to keep a pair (or trio) of bristlenoses and actively breed them, and you can (if you're watchfull) "steal" the fry from the male bristlenose before they are released [use a piece of hose to siphon the fry out of the tank into a bucket/jug, and "pour" them into a breeder net or fry-tank (with mature filter and water from the main tank to avoid changes in water chemistry)].

--
Mats

Crazie.Eddie · Post by **Crazie.Eddie** » 07 Sep 2006, 16:51

8-10 cm is definetely too big to show of interest. I even tried to introduce them to worms, about 8cm long but only about 1-2cm wide and those guys were scared. LOL Even the biggest of my loaches, which was about 7.5 cm didn't show any interest.