Loaches Online Forum

Why do Clowns lay on their sides?
My clown bottom sits and sometimes lays on its side day & night.
Then 40 mins later, it will be moving around normally...

I got the clowns 1 week ago.

When mine nap they lay on their sides. Usually I can sneak up on them and they don't notice. Then all of the sudden they wake up and swim away fast. Its kinda funny!
I really don't know but to me it seems like they are napping!

My clown is bottom sitting a lot now.
I think it swallowed a piece of wood from my super soil & gravel.
Or its stressed out in the new environment.

I might bring it back to the store & get another 1 since
I got a 14 day return policy...

Clowns are known to sleep on their sides & its considered
"normal" behavior I guess.

dont take him back just because he's scared..

most loaches will rest on their sides or sit on the bottom, you dont expect them to move around 24/7 do you??

how big is he and what do you mean by 'soil'??


-brett.

I was so looking forward to seeing my clowns nap on their side when I first bought them.
It took them about a week to get used to the environment & to find the hiding places in the tank.
Afterwards, I always sneak up just to see them lie on their sides while napping.
It's too cute
I think having clown loaches is like having a dog; you can see them sleep, hear them click, & see them play (well, other fish do the same things too, but loaches do them more obviously).

It’s ~3.25” including tail.

Tank temp 72F
20% water change/7-10 days.
Wardly chro-out
API stress coat

I put some potting soil in the tank to help the plants. I think there’s some small pieces of wood in the soil (decaying wood).

It’s funny how the clowns don’t go to sleep @ the same time.

I have a 5” PVC hidey pipe in there, that they sometimes go in. I might drill some holes in it to increase water flow.

-Sylvester

Typical loach behavior. Mine enjoy sleeping in plants sometimes, and once I caught them sleeping on each other. Like the Clown profile here says, they're CLOWN loaches, right? They goof off.

Don't take him back, because that might disturb him to the point where something IS actually wrong with him.

KoiGuy,

Read the last sentence in this article before you take your loach back!

http://www.loaches.com/articles/an-intr ... ping-botia

KoiGuy, your tank temp is too low at 72, many people keep clowns at 82.

I'm not sure potting soil is a good idea, some have fertilizer & all have lots of fine particles that can get stirred up by digging loaches.

yeah i second that they love 82 degrees!

I knew what he was doing and I knew it was normal but I still got super freaked out when my Yoyo was "sleeping".

I thought he was dead, but he ran (swam?) away when I poked him...

Yeah, the temp is a lil low.
My clowns are doing a lot better now. I think the on its side thing is a defense mechanism so predators less likely to eat dead prey.

One of my clown loachs died today. I thought it was just sleeping at first. I noticed it was still laying on its side about 4 hours later. Wasn't sure if it was dead or not till I scooped it with the net. poor thing had it for about 2 weeks. hopefully my other loaches are alright.

with the addition of sand. mine dig holes halfway on their sides and halfway str8 up. like a 45 degree angle. its interesting....

Yeah, the 1 laying on its side, I returned him to the LFS.

The replacement is skinny & does a lot of bottom resting &
vertical hovering. Its like the clown dance but less energetic.

I figure he's just acclimating to the tank.
Where can i get Leva HCl in Oakland, CALI?