My Clowns are only 4" long and I've had them for 2 years in a 70g.
Either they are not eating well enough or my water is too hard, and I
should look around to find someone who will take them from me. Generally
they can be slow growing, especially at certain sizes, but I've found
their growth rates are very much affected by water quality and diet.

I think the issue with sizing the tank to the fish is two-fold. Many
people only have one tank, so they need to be warned about the eventual
size of the fish, to be sure they are prepared to adequately accommodate
them. Others like myself & Dick have many tanks, so we can simply rotate
them through increasingly larger tanks as required, or not, if not
needed.

The other issue is that tank size will affect their growth rate, or more
particularly, water quality (which is poorer in small tanks) may stunt
the fish. If moving the fish through tank upgrades, you need to be
slightly ahead of their requirements to not stunt their growth (imo).

A few more issues particular to botia a
- they are shoaling fish, so you need many of them.
- they are bottom dwellers, reducing their useable space to the square
footage of the bottom.
- they can be light sensitive and burrow for shelter and darkness,
further reducing their usable habitat.
Each of these points, should influence us to providing larger habitats.
jmo
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Sarah Navarro" wrote in message
nk.net...
Dick, I also am curiuos about this. I have three clown loaches in a
100 gallon tank, along with a few miscellanous other fish. They are
only about 4 or 5 inches long also. I have had them about a year and a
half and they just don't seem to grow any larger. I was told when I
got them that they needed to be in a very large tank because they would
get very big, but it's just not happening yet.

Sarah

Marco, I am curious about the attitude that Clowns need more space.
Perhaps size is part of the reason. None of my Clowns have grown much
more than 5 inches. The 2 in my 10 gallon tank seem no different than
the 6 in my 75 gallon tank, similar size, color and behavior. These
Clowns have been in their respective tanks about 2 1/2 years.

Do you have any personal experience which causes your caution about
smaller tanks?

dick