Loaches Online Forum

Hi guys, just a question about effects and problems of loaches being out of the water for too long,

firstly, i did a tank strip down and moved all my fish from a 3ft3 to a 5ft anyway whilst stripping down i caught all the fish moved all the rocks but the clowns proved tricky..... to cut a long story short i lost one somewhere, and it took me about 15 mins of hunting tanks back and forth moving stuff the it suddenly dawned on me, there where a couple of wholes in one of the rocks i had removed, and there we was....on the living room floor inside a rock,

i'm guessing the rock kept him moist and he's good at holding his breath as i estimate he was out of water for about 10-15 mins,

anyway popted the lil feller back into the tank and he swam off gingerly.......

he had a few black marks on him but still he swam away......

with the prolonged stay out of water i just wanted to know if there is anything i should be looking out for or anything he might be more susceptible too.....

cheers in advance,

Dave

I have done exactly the same thing, before I knew better.

In my case all was well and I'm pleased to say that I haven't made the same mistake again.

I had a yoyo out of the tank, all fuzzy on the carpet, and found her by stepping on her! Augh! She was fine and is still with me two years later. I wish your clown good luck. I bet he'll be fine.

I had a farlowela out of the water for 1/2 and hour on a piece of wood, and he's still with me. And I was cleaning the tank once and removed a cave into a bowl, and 10 minutes later I heard a Plooop and swish, swish, swish and it was a bumblebee catfish. Still with me 3 years later.

As long as the gills are wet when its out of water, it should be fine