Clown Loach

With its orange-yellow body and three thick black bands, the clown loach is one of the most popular bottom dwellers. It is playful: it rests lying on its side, "plays dead", plays chase with the other loaches in the group and makes clicking sounds.

It is sold at 5 cm in stores, but it grows slowly to 20 cm, and 30 cm in a large aquarium, and can live for more than 20 years. This needs to be taken into account before buying.

It lives in the rivers of Sumatra and Borneo; in the rainy season it migrates onto flooded plains. Most of the fish in aquariums are collected from the wild or bred on farms with hormones.

• Volume: at least 400 liters and 150 cm of length for an adult group. Juveniles can start in a smaller aquarium, but growth must be planned for.
• Hiding places: Roots, caves, narrow gaps; botias like to rest squeezed into tight spots.
• Water: 26–29°C, oxygen-rich and clean; moderate flow.
• Substrate: Fine sand (for the barbels and belly).
• Lid: It can jump.

Omnivorous. Sinking granules and tablets, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, vegetables. It eagerly eats snails; that is why it is also used against snail infestations.

Peaceful but active and boisterous; it establishes a hierarchy within its own group. It is also active at night.

Good companions: large tetras, barbs, rasboras, gouramis, angelfish, discus (the temperature suits them, but its activity may disturb discus).

Avoid: snails, shrimp, very slow and timid species, small aquariums.

The clown loach is a social schooling fish: at least 5–6 individuals. One or two loaches become stressed, hide and grow prone to illness; in a large group you get to see their play and clicking. As the group grows, the aquarium must grow too.

It almost never breeds in the aquarium; commercial breeding is done on farms with hormone support.

• White spot: Botias are among the species most prone to white spot; new fish must always be quarantined.
• Medication sensitivity: Its scales are very small; it is sensitive to many medications (especially malachite green and formalin). Start at half the dose and favor raising the temperature.
• Wasting: Internal parasites are common in imported fish.

They are hard to tell apart from the outside. Mature females are plumper, and males may have more inwardly curved tail tips; there is no reliable way to tell them apart.