Clown Loach (Botia macracantha)

The Clown Loach is a must-have fish for many freshwater enthusiasts. It is peaceful and gets along well with almost any tankmate. The Clown Loach is also entertaining to watch and feed. Unlike true nocturnal loaches, the Clown Loach is active during the day but will shy from bright light and hide amongst plant stocks or in rockwork. Best of all, however, Chromobotia macracantha is a voracious eater of nuisance snails that sneak into your aquarium on live plants.

Native to the waters of Indonesia, this member of the Cobitidae family appreciates caves, holes, and other hiding places amongst heavy aquarium plantings, especially when it sleeps. Because the Clown Loach is native to fast moving streams, it prefers good water movement and currents in the aquarium. Since the Clown Loach can grow to an impressive size of nearly 1 foot in length, it should be housed in larger freshwater systems.

Interestingly, the Clown Loach is sometimes referred to as a scaleless fish. But it does, in fact, have small scales embedded in its skin. For best care, feed the Clown Loach small meals several times throughout the day. Younger Clown Loaches will eat most prepared foods while older ones may be more finicky. Prepared foods such as vegetable flakes or tablets along with meaty supplements such as live, frozen, or freeze-dried worms will provide this species with the proper nutrition.

Approximate Purchase Size: Tiny: 1/2" to 1-1/2"; Small: 1-1/2" to 2-1/2"; Medium: 2-1/2" to 3-1/2"; Large: 3-1/2" to 4-1/2"

Care details

• Temperature: 72 - 86° F
• dKH: 8 - 12
• Color: Black, Orange, Red and Tan
• Family: Cobitidae
• Diet: Omnivore