Clown Loaches (Not acting normally?)

Hi..

[...Clown Loaches...]
Do you have any personal experience which causes your
caution about smaller tanks?

First contact: ~37 years ago. A few years later I started
keeping a group for some years in my at that time biggest
tank 140/40/40cm (~55/15/15"). These days I thaught their
maximal size were 13-15cm (~5-6"). Mine were finally 16+
cm (~7") when I read they grow up to 30cm (~ 12"). So I gave
them to a fish keeper who had a 2000 liter tank (~530g)
with some 7 years old Clowns of about 25cm (~10"). There
mine grew up to 21cm (~8"), but his Clowns up to 27cm
(~11"). It was too late for mine to reach a normal
(healthy) size. ;-(

Now I agree to keepers which demand a minimal tank of 150cm
(~60") or 500 liter (~132g) for a group of them.

That experience made me thoughtful so I stopped keeping
fish like Clowns and Goldfish.

We use a word named "Verbutterung". I don't know how to
translate. It describes what happens if fish is forced to
live in much to small tank: it will stay small(er), will be
less healthier and will get morphological and physiological
problems..

--
cu
Marco