Loaches Online Forum

Just thought Id share a few observations from this mornings feed

So I have two 'dominant' loaches in my group. Mouse who is alpha, and Stripe, who is second in command. These two do everything together (when Stripe isn't being a bum and trying to boss her ).

During breakfast this morning, Stripe (the largest loach in the group) tired to 'steal' a pellet from my alpha (Mouse) which resulted in her turning, raming him whilst clicking very aggressively to him several times, she then proceeded to 'ram' the smaller loaches near her away Usually shes very tolerant, allowing the younger lot to feed along side, some times on the same pellet, but not today. You would think he learnt, but no... he kept going back for more until he was well put in his place. He then took it upon himself to boss everyone else about that he could, it was the funniest thing to watch like little kids.

Some pic's (Bit blurry, in the heat of the moment )

Mouse


Mouse and Stripe



Facing up to one another


Not a very happy fish after being put in his place



Never gets old watching these guys


Ashleigh

Nice clowns.

Great story! This sort of thing happens quite a bit in my tank too. There is a 9" female who used to be my Alpha (and before that, she used to belong to my parents). In their tank, there were quite a few big loaches, and this particular loach used to get bullied by the others quite a bit. I decided I would move her to my tank some years back, where she was then the biggest loach and took charge as Alpha. No longer was she bullied - she was able to boss the others about now and became quite a bully herself. Since getting Marge & Stripes, she has been a lot more mellow, but if Marge & Stripes decide to hide away for a few days (they sometimes do this) she then thinks she is in charge and starts misbehaving, bullying all the others again. Some of the others have now caught her up in size, but this doesn't stop her thinking she's boss if there is no sign of Marge & Stripes. If anyone so much as tries to steal any of her food, she goes on a bit of a rampage biting not only the food thief, but any others that venture near her. Sometimes, she is so preoccupied with chasing everyone away from the food, that she misses out on quite a bit of the actual eating!!!

Ashleigh, is it me or is your Stripe looking a little bit skinny? It might just be the pics, but I think he is looking a bit boney/pinched behind the head. Mouse is looking superb!

Emma

typical clowns. Although Ive never seen mouse actually react so aggressively before this morning, must have been one yummy piece of food

Yes he is a skinny boy, he was in very very bad shape a couple of years back when I got him. Hes put on weight since then, although he took a very long time to, to the point he is at now and has stayed there ever since, although he has grown in length. Eats like a pig-you can see the tummy bloat after din dins like in the smaller loaches, no weight goes on or off


Ashleigh