Clown Loach

The clown loach (Chromobotia macracanthus) comes from Sumatra and Borneo and is the most recognisable loach in the trade: a deep orange body crossed by three broad black bands, with red fins. The fish sold in shops are juveniles a few centimetres long. Adults are an entirely different proposition. This is a large, slow-growing, very long-lived fish, and the single most common mistake with it is buying a handful of small ones for a tank that will never suit them.

Aquarium care

• Grows far beyond community size and needs a large tank as an adult.
• Long-lived. Treat it as a decades-long commitment.
• Strongly social. Keep five or more or they sulk and hide.
• Wants caves, pipes, wood and a soft substrate.
• Sensitive to poor water quality and prone to whitespot when stressed.
• Bottom-feeder: sinking pellets, wafers, frozen bloodworm and vegetable matter.

Best in a large, mature community with big barbs, rainbowfish, larger cichlids and other robust fish. Buy it for the adult, not the juvenile in the bag.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is sold for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. See the current loach and botia list.