Loaches Online Forum

I did a search in this forum. Came up with this thread. Seems to be the only information and nobody was really sure if it was the dojo producing the sound. I've had many instances of loud, apparently sourceless clicks from the tank, and when I look, the dojo's typically hanging around in the filter outflow, not even close to the gravel. It might also be the peppered loaches; I don't know if they click or not, and there's hardly any information on them out there.

Last night, I fed the loaches as normal - they got flake food (Formula 2), which the dojo loves. He came up to the top, smacked his lips chasing down as much food as he could, and then stuck his head entirely out of the water onto a piece of floating driftwood and clicked rapidly, several times, before going back down!

Made me and my husband laugh. I didn't know they did that.

Hi, Sixwing!!

My Dojo Loaches click all the time. They click most often when they are feeding out of my hand, or when I don't have food and they're checking out my arm when I'm doing maintenance. I find this really cute, and it tickles. I can also feel a slight pressure of suction when they do this. They also sometimes click at other times, when I cannot see them, but I can hear them! I like the sound because it reminds me of their presence when I'm not looking at the tank.

There are several theories as to why a Dojo or other Loach clicks. Many people believe it is the rasping of their pharyngeal teeth, but I think it could just as easily be the rapid intake of food or water into their mouths. That is when I have heard them click the most. I have also heard them chuck small pieces of gravel onto the glass when they're moving around, but this is a different sound from the clicking. I have never kept Botiine Loaches, or heard them click, so I could not know if the sounds they produce are any different. Their clicks are supposed to be really loud.

Bye for Now
soul-hugger
(leaf)

soul-hugger wrote: They click most often when they are feeding out of my hand, or when I don't have food and they're checking out my arm when I'm doing maintenance.

mine do the exact same thing. they'll click for brine shrimp, or at my hand/arm when I'm replanting plants, and they feel I should be feeding them instead; "we're just going to dig them back up again! feeeeeeed me!"

we're just going to dig them back up again!

LOL! Yes. Yes they will. (Burrowing loaches and stem plants mean floating stem plants, as I am finding out.)

Thanks! Glad to hear I'm not nuts, and neither is the loach. I wonder if the lip-smacking sound he makes is made by the same mechanism?

I have clowns and they click for sure ! Maybe your loach was just thanking you for dinner ?

lol

sparkythewelder