Clown Loaches (botia macracanthus)

These are friendly little guys which are notoriously difficult to keep alive. I killed off my first batch of five ($7 ea), purchased on 7/12/1997, with nasty stuff from my water heater. I finagled the pet store into replacing two of them (the first two that died) on 7/14/1997, and I bought another three ($7 ea) on 7/19/1997. You have to have at least 3-4 of them or they fight constantly. They had one bout with "ick," but I treated them and they've been fine ever since, except for one that I know was killed by the clown knife and another one that has disappeared. They ranged from 1-1.25" when I bought them, and they're about 2.5-3.5" long now.

They hide a lot, so it's difficult to get good pictures. I haven't gotten a very good picture of more than one of them at the same time, yet. They share the space under the driftwood with the eel, so he's visible in all of these shots.


8/11/2000


8/11/2000


8/12/2000


8/12/2000