Sexing clown loaches
- Thread starter Coryloach
- Start date
I'm on a different computer, I'll check when I am at home. I'm not sure if any of the images will help, the loaches were all pretty young when a friend of mine took the pics. But as they matured I used their behavior (it was a species only tank so cool to watch them interact as the only species), and the overall body shape of the fish, much as you have suggested.
I think that once they're a good few years old, the shape of the loaches sort of gives away the sex. Having said that, one can't know for certain..
The point is though, the faster growing females are easy to spot from a younger age.....And if I hadn't bought the 3 mature loaches last May, I wouldn't have paid any attention to clown loach shape because majority of the loaches I raised myself seem to be females, and the 2 slender ones in the group I just considered runts
Now I think the runts are males although I have only one male left of of this bunch as the other happened to jump out last year. He's significantly narrow girth wise than his siblings the same age and also flat/narrow when viewed from above.
Also, while I kept mine in a glass aquarium, I never had the chance to look at them from above, or even tried to... Now I have no choice, them being in a pond, and it is rather visible that some loaches are plump and other extremely flat/slender, even if you don't know or see their girth. If you do look at their body shape through a glass tank, the "plump" loaches are also significantly wider in girth and have the "hump" type of body shape around the head, like half moon.At least that's applicable to mine. But as you say, it is a very small sample size.
The point is though, the faster growing females are easy to spot from a younger age.....And if I hadn't bought the 3 mature loaches last May, I wouldn't have paid any attention to clown loach shape because majority of the loaches I raised myself seem to be females, and the 2 slender ones in the group I just considered runts
Now I think the runts are males although I have only one male left of of this bunch as the other happened to jump out last year. He's significantly narrow girth wise than his siblings the same age and also flat/narrow when viewed from above.Also, while I kept mine in a glass aquarium, I never had the chance to look at them from above, or even tried to... Now I have no choice, them being in a pond, and it is rather visible that some loaches are plump and other extremely flat/slender, even if you don't know or see their girth. If you do look at their body shape through a glass tank, the "plump" loaches are also significantly wider in girth and have the "hump" type of body shape around the head, like half moon.At least that's applicable to mine. But as you say, it is a very small sample size.
The below is a video of my first group of loaches taken 5 years ago, which I still have plus another 8 clown loaches.
There's just one male in that first group. At around 0:10 on the video he gets sandwiched at the bottom while the rest are playing up and down the glass. Notice his narrower body shape where the rest are already growing in girth. He's still same body shape now but longer/bigger obviously, where the females have grown even wider in girth as well as length and one female has surpassed them all big time. Girth wise I reckon she's 3 times the male loach same age...
There's just one male in that first group. At around 0:10 on the video he gets sandwiched at the bottom while the rest are playing up and down the glass. Notice his narrower body shape where the rest are already growing in girth. He's still same body shape now but longer/bigger obviously, where the females have grown even wider in girth as well as length and one female has surpassed them all big time. Girth wise I reckon she's 3 times the male loach same age...
Agreed, some are quite obvious, some not so much. Even in a glass tank it's pretty obvious if one is watching their fish move around. As an example, an obvious female.
Whose body shape mimics the gravid female shown at the top of the photo in the following link.
https://www.loaches.com/articles/clown-loach-breeding-related-items
https://www.loaches.com/articles/clown-loach-breeding-related-items
Yes, quite certain the one on your picture is a female, ha, ha, quite beautiful as well....
I was reading more on the subject on the Russian websites. The info is quite repetitive around several websites but suprisingly detailed.
They describe how to trigger clown loaches to spawn. The flow needs to be circular and the tank corners filled with "........", couldn't understand what but its a special sort of set up, in order for the circular flow not to be slowed down when it hits the corners....I am guessing my round tank would be quite suitable, ha, ha.
It is important to use a very strong pump. They call the pump "вертушка" and it is not something sold for aquariums, but a custom made pump that creates a very strong circular flow......I am not much help here...but that's all I could get on this particular matter.
They advise the bottom to be sand and round stones.The flow needs to be swiping strongly over the stones and the flow is of big importance to trigger the fish to spawn, and the size of the spawn itself. The fish lay the eggs on the stones/right on the sand, etc..
Once the fish lay the eggs, the pump is to be switched off and normal aquarium aeration resumed. Good oxygenation is to be ensured. Viable eggs are completely transparent and start increasing in size within 3 hours, and floating in the flow, so one needs to prevent them from being sucked into filters. In about 3 hours non-viable eggs will turn completely white.
The fish spawn in a ratio of 3-4 males to 1 female. The males turn grey/green/ash colour during spawn, the females remain bright yellow(egg colour) with dark black stripes.
The temperature in which fish are conditioned and eggs layed needs to be 24-26C to ensure best quality of eggs/the least deformity.
The eggs hatch in about 18-20 hours. The fry grow very slowly, to about 1.5 cm in 1 month. The fry would hide in dark corners of the aquarium in the very first few days, and are very sensitive the first month. They swim mid water and only get to the substrate for food......
And forgot, the majority of info says the fish has to be minimum 5 years old and at that age they're minimum 12cm long.
And also same thing about females being rounder, with a slight bulge around the belly area...
There was probably more. I'll add it as I remember. The above info is from 1991!!
I was reading more on the subject on the Russian websites. The info is quite repetitive around several websites but suprisingly detailed.
They describe how to trigger clown loaches to spawn. The flow needs to be circular and the tank corners filled with "........", couldn't understand what but its a special sort of set up, in order for the circular flow not to be slowed down when it hits the corners....I am guessing my round tank would be quite suitable, ha, ha.
It is important to use a very strong pump. They call the pump "вертушка" and it is not something sold for aquariums, but a custom made pump that creates a very strong circular flow......I am not much help here...but that's all I could get on this particular matter.
They advise the bottom to be sand and round stones.The flow needs to be swiping strongly over the stones and the flow is of big importance to trigger the fish to spawn, and the size of the spawn itself. The fish lay the eggs on the stones/right on the sand, etc..
Once the fish lay the eggs, the pump is to be switched off and normal aquarium aeration resumed. Good oxygenation is to be ensured. Viable eggs are completely transparent and start increasing in size within 3 hours, and floating in the flow, so one needs to prevent them from being sucked into filters. In about 3 hours non-viable eggs will turn completely white.
The fish spawn in a ratio of 3-4 males to 1 female. The males turn grey/green/ash colour during spawn, the females remain bright yellow(egg colour) with dark black stripes.
The temperature in which fish are conditioned and eggs layed needs to be 24-26C to ensure best quality of eggs/the least deformity.
The eggs hatch in about 18-20 hours. The fry grow very slowly, to about 1.5 cm in 1 month. The fry would hide in dark corners of the aquarium in the very first few days, and are very sensitive the first month. They swim mid water and only get to the substrate for food......
And forgot, the majority of info says the fish has to be minimum 5 years old and at that age they're minimum 12cm long.
And also same thing about females being rounder, with a slight bulge around the belly area...
There was probably more. I'll add it as I remember. The above info is from 1991!!
