Fri May 02, 2008 10:04 pm GMT   Reply      

It would seem that I have a very interesting clown loach. This one seems to dislike having others around. I was told to get a few because they seem to be more comfortable in groups but unfortunately there was one from my group that would rather be on its own. Strange behaviour if you ask me. I may take the others back to my lfs as they do not seem to be eating as well as the lone wolf.

Sat May 03, 2008 7:44 am GMT   Reply      

Well, it seems one of your clown loaches has placed himself as superior to others. If not that then it could be that since all fish have different personalities he does not like grouping... for now. later on he might join the grouping. Now as for the others not eating well, do they look sick?

Sat May 03, 2008 11:19 pm GMT   Reply      

Basically they just look skinny. At every feeding I have observed them eating. they just dont seem to be bulking up. I brought the smallest back already and we'll see what happens with the other small one that I still have. Im toying with the idea of separating it and putting it into a separate tank and feeding it by itslef until it gains some weight. Good idea or not so much?

I specifically bought them Aquarian bottom feeder sinking shrimp pellets which they eat and they also eat top fin tropical flakes, nutrafin basix blood worms, and sometimes if a cichlid staple pellet falls to the bottom they graze on those too. I try to keep the diets of all the fish varried. (they also eat freeze dried plankton but only once a week)

Sun May 04, 2008 6:46 am GMT   Reply      

Well, your diet for them looks great. As for moving one alone well, These fish, as you probly know, Love to be in groups of at least three and alone they may not be very active. Im not sure why your fish is not eating enough... it may be from stress from being bossed around or from any recent moves. This can be a side affect of buying new fish for they have a long journey before they get to the fish store so, yea. What I would do, which this is only me, I would place all your clown loaches into one seperate quaretine tank with plenty of hiding spots, one for each. Then I would record how they were doing and watch to see if there is any change in there behavior and if there is, exploit it to see if they can be saved.
On any note, do you have lots of hiding places for the clown loaches?

Sun May 04, 2008 9:14 am GMT   Reply      

One thing I've found with the clowns is that the smaller ones don't make it in captivity. If their back is starting to get skinny...you've got a problem. it's a genetic thing. I've had a lot of these guys in my tanks over the years, and I've seen it all. Try feeding them zucchini. They normally go nuts for it. Rubber band it to a rock and drop it in. They should go nuts.

Sun May 04, 2008 12:25 pm GMT   Reply      

I agree with fishdoc.

Sun May 04, 2008 2:18 pm GMT   Reply      

I'll try the zucchini. They've got loads of hiding places...I had to really heavily fake plant the entire tank and put in more drift wood to keep my bigger parrot fish from picking on the smaller one...worked like a charm...everyone has places to hide as well as lots of swimming room at the front and the larger parrot doesnt chase the smaller parrot around anymore. The clown loaches hid behind the drift wood and amongst the plants at first but now that they know people= food they come out more often so I know they're comfortable. I think i read somewhere that most loaches are wild caught so I can imagine how stressed they must be going from the wild to where they are now...thats quite the journey.

Thanks very very much for all your info fishdoc & darkruby.