Loaches Online Forum

Hi,

I bought 7 wild caught clowns, they are about 5-6 inches. They look very stressed and kinda skinny.

I am seeking advices on how to acclimate them into aquarium. They don't seem to be interested in flake or sinking pellets my other clowns absolutely go crazy for.

My tank is 90G and over-filtered with 3 x eheim and 1 FX5. I have kept 18 clowns in this tank for 5 year, they are between 5-7 inches now. However, I see many differences in behaviors between tank raised and wild caught clowns. Not sure if they will get along and would be sad to lose the wild caught clowns because I think they will eventually grow much bigger, not to mention I paid $40 for each.

BTW, I am in the process of buying a house and can't wait to upgrade my tank to 125G or greater in a couple months. I owe it to my beloved clowns.

Thanks in advance.

You probably should treat them with some internal parasite medications like Praziquantel and Levamisole.

Most of the wild caught clowns I have wouldn't eat any commercially prepared dry foods either. They'd only eat seafood and veggies, such as fish, shrimp, snails, clams, mussels, bloodworms, cucumber, zucchini, spinach, ect. They'll also eat small fish like tetras if they are in the tank. Don't let them eat those small fish because some may be wild caught and have pathogens or diseases that clown loaches have no immunity too.

I learned this a little too late as some of them died from emaciation and internal parasites a few months after I got them. Only 2 of 6 survived. One of the wild caught clowns is still an extremely picky eater, so I feed them some fresh whole seafood everyday now. It's now about 4 years later.

thanks Keith. Just got some bloodworms and veggies, will try them out. finger crossed.

a couple pics i took with lights off