clown loach's/betas

[Geck-co]

alloha all :)

I have a q... i have read and heard of some people keeping beta's with loach's. What i was thinking of doing is getting 1.2 betta's and then 3 cloan loachs. Knowing the loachs stick to the bottom and the bettas roam everywhere i was wondering if the betas would stress the loachs? anyone ever tried this? heard of anyone trying this? I plan on putting them in a heavily planted tank and putting some cave's near the bottom... any ideas ?

also anyone suggest a good pl*co/algae eater to go with this group/ i was thinking a king tiger pl*co (had one be4 and loved it..even though he hid all the time he still looked neat the few times ya do get to see him lol)

[Youkai]

Are the bettas in question splendens?? Because the male will chase the females down constantly. Either with the intention to injure or mate. Even in a heavily planted tank...

Also, I don't think the clown loaches should be in anything smaller then 60gallons for adults. I mean, yes, smaller for juveniles...but even so, chances are it's a bit to large for the bettas (unless it's the giants).

And third...if anything, it'll be the loaches scaring the bettas. Bettas are slow and secretive. Unless they're in with each other or other similar looking anabantids, they are actually little wimps, and very prone to stress. The clown loaches are fast, active, and explore everything a hundred times over....possibly even the bettas.

I keep my betts either 1 male per tank or 2+ females (depending on size of tank). The tanks are well planted, and often the only other critters in the tanks besides wayward snails are dwarf corries or ottocinclus.

But is it the anabantid look you like? Because paradise fish, and all kinds of gouramies would probably be excellent with clown loaches! Also, there's that really big *** species of betta that *might* be okay, but I'd have to go look that one up...

Oh...and hands down...my answer to the pleco question would be clown plecos. I love those guys though, so I'm horribly biased...

[Lizzy]

Great advice Youkai...and by the way, I love your new icon! I also wanted to point out that my clowns seem to also like to eat my plants. I'm not sure if that will apply to all loaches, but mine are eating the plants. Little buggers...

[Youkai]

Really? What types of plants?
At work I used to keep the larger ones in our 108 gallon with all the plants for sale, and I never noticed them eating them. But then again, there wasn't great variety at that store for plants, so maybe nothing was on their menu...hehe.

Glad you like the icon! I mean...how could anyone not? It's <i>Data</i>! The only thing that would enhance the fun of that icon is Q. :)

[girraffasaurus]

Hm, I keep several bettas and check out a betta forum regularly...gotta say I've never heard of keeping them with loaches. I would, though, advise against keeping a male and females together. People keep bettas with tetras, mollies, etc. but nothing big like loaches. If you want to read about what people successfully keep their bettas with, go to healthybetta.com. Also, since you guys are talking about algae eaters and the likes...is there one that stays small enough to keep in a 2 gal tank? I currently have 2 African Dwarf Frogs in there. Thanks!