Description
The clown loach is one of the most charismatic fish in the trade: an orange body with three broad black bands, red fins and a social, playful behaviour that draws you in. And one of the most often bought without knowing what is being bought.
It is sold at 5 cm, but as an adult it passes 30 cm and lives more than twenty years. It also needs a group of five or more. The arithmetic is simple: a group of adult clown loaches needs a tank about 180 cm long and 60 cm deep, over 600 litres.
If you have that tank, it is wonderful: they lie on their sides to rest — which is alarming the first time — make audible clicking sounds and wipe out any snail plague.
Behavior
Peaceful towards other fish and very social with its own: in a group it sets up a hierarchy and moves as a gang. A single clown loach or a pair lives stressed and hidden.
It is most active at dawn and dusk, and needs hiding places big enough for the whole group.
It lives well with calm, medium-sized warm-water fish: large barbs, large rasboras, gouramis, rainbowfish, angelfish, discus in large tanks.
Avoid housing it with shrimp and snails, which it eats; very small or slow fish whose food it takes; and small tanks of any kind.
Habitat
Chromobotia macracanthus comes from Sumatra and Borneo, from flowing forest rivers with clear or stained water and sand, gravel and log-strewn bottoms. In the rainy season it moves into flooded areas to breed.
In the aquarium it needs warm, well-oxygenated water, some flow, sand and plenty of shelter: logs, roots, stones with gaps.
It is sensitive to water quality and to medication: its scales are barely visible and treatments with copper or malachite green at normal doses affect it. It is also very prone to white spot when stressed.
Details
🌊 Water parameters
🐠 Minimum tank size
Breeding
It does not breed in home aquariums. In the wild it migrates upriver to spawn with the floods, and trade fish come from wild collection or from farms using hormone induction.
Diet
A bottom-feeding omnivore with an appetite for meat.
- Staple: sinking tablets and granules.
- Supplement: frozen mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, mysis and chopped prawn.
- Extra: snails, which it hunts with gusto.
It eats everything eagerly; the risk is that slow bottom fish go without.
What about your tank?
Enter your tank's values to see only the compatible species that fit them. Litres apply to fish.
Compatible fish
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 26–30 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 27–30 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 25–30 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.2 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 26–30 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
Compatible invertebrates
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 25–29 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 27–30 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
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They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 25–28 °C.
Sources
- FishBaseFroese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2026. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication.
- Seriously FishSeriously Fish. Chromobotia macracanthus. Ficha de especie; consultada 2026-08.
Length: Seriously Fish gives 40 cm and FishBase 30.5. Seriously Fish asks for a 180 × 60 cm footprint for an adult group.
Plan your next aquarium
Is this fish right for you? Plan a suitable aquarium before setting it up.