Buying Clown Loaches

The Clown Loach can be prone to diseases due to stress experienced during the long transportation from Indonesia or because of bad conditions in the pet shop. A lot of aquarists have learned this the hard way, when their newly bought Clown Loach has died after just a few days or weeks in its new home. A very important step when buying a new Clown Loach is therefore to find a healthy individual. Buy following these five easy tips you will significantly increase your chances of obtaining a healthy Clown Loach that you can enjoy for a long time in your aquarium.

Start off by taking a careful look around the fish store from where you plan to obtain you Clown Loach. Does the place look clean and well kept? Can you see any dead fish in the aquariums? Does the water look dirty or smell bad? If some of the aquariums look as if they are untended to, chances are big that the rest of the aquariums are poorly kept as well. Choose a fish store where all the aquariums are kept in good condition and where the fish and other animals look healthy.

Now take a look at the aquarium where the Clown Loach is kept. It should of course be clean and well kept, but it should also include hiding places for the Clown Loach. The Clown Loach requires places to seek shelter in like it would do in the wild, and if the Clown Loach is kept in an aquarium without suitable hiding places it will become very stressed out. You are also more likely to get a healthy fish from a fish store where the keeper understands what the different fish species needs, and provides them with that.

The next step is to focus on the Clown Loach. By studying the colouration of the Clown Loach, you can often get an indication of its overall condition. A strong and healthy Clown Loach will typically display clear and distinct colours. A sick or stressed Clown Loach on the other hand, will often loose its colours and turn pale. Never by a Clown Loach have that look whitish or displays dulled colours.

You also need to check whether the Clown Loach is well fed or not. It is hard to restore the strength in a starved or malnourished Clown Loach, so it is better to choose a well fed individual from the start. Carefully look at the body of the Clown Loach to see if the fish looks well fed, and also ask the shopkeeper about how often they feed their Clown Loaches and what type of food the fish is given. Also check how active the Clown Loach is. A healthy and well fed Clown Loach is very fast and bursting of energy. Don’t buy the Clown Loach if it is easy to catch when the shopkeeper tries to get it out of the aquarium. If the Clown Loach is resting on its side in the aquarium, it is not a sign of bad health or starvation. Clown Loaches enjoy resting on their sides in the wild as well, and can sometimes look almost dead. This is a very normal behaviour, and the fact that the fish is doing it in captivity is a good sign.

The last advice for the beginner Clown Loach keeper is to avoid buying Clown Loaches smaller than 2 inches (5 centimetres), since young Clown Loaches are more vulnerable than mature ones. Young Clown Loaches can be successfully kept in aquariums, but it usually requires more pampering and it is better to start out with a more robust Clown Loach when it is your first time.

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