Botia Clown Loach

Quite an attractive fish, which is not "shy" like others in its class. Usually hyperactive during the day. Can comfortably live in a social aquarium

They live in small groups (5-7 fish) and several times they have been observed to form groups with other fish such as tiger barbs.

The tank should have a soft substrate so that they can comfortably forage in it. Stones and properly placed plants are essential to provide shelter. The water should be soft.

Once they are adapted to the aquarium they live several years in it, growing slowly, but never reaching the size they would have reached if they had lived in their natural environment. Perhaps this is why they never breed in the aquarium.

Their characteristic is that they sleep almost upside down and very often their owners believe that they have lost their fish. Also, if you take them out of the aquarium for some reason with the aquarium afterwards be careful how you touch them because clown loach during their time out of the water have razor-like things coming out of their eyes that can cut you a bit.

Don't be fooled by the small size when buying them. They get quite large so they need a fairly large tank.

They are quite susceptible to diseases such as ick.

They also help a lot to reduce the snail population in the tank, as snails are a very good food for them.