Loaches Online Forum

I found a big, hollow plastic log at the pet store that looked pretty realistic. They look a lot bigger once you get them in the tank! The opening is about six inches. I took the old castle out that the loaches liked to hide in, and I put this hollow log in. Since it's so big, I went to Home Depot and got some 2"curvy PVC pipe and put it inside the log. There's enough room to swim into the log and around the pipe, and the little fish like that. Some of them are sleeping in the log now.

It's been there for five or six days. But, the clown loaches don't seem to like it, so they moved to the other castle, which I planned on removing. I just didn't want to take both of the castles out at one time. I have seen them swim close to the opening of the log, but they won't go into the pipe.

I'm leaving for vacation and will be back in two weeks. I plan on taking the other castle out then and putting in another hiding place there. They were really stressed when I took their old castle out, so I hate to move this one, but I'm really afraid they will get stuck in it. I hope I'm doing the right thing.

I'm also worried about leaving because we are supposed to have a big storm this weekend. My daughter will be here to take care of the fish, but I'm worried about the power going out - we usually lose it for several hours to several days if there is a big storm. I guess blankets over the tank would help keep the temperature up if the power goes out.

I think they need to just get use to the new log.

And they do like small place`s so can have something to do with it being to big.

One thing you can have your daughter do, if you loss power for to long, is have her boil water on a camp stove, if you have one and put into some bottle`s, this she can put into the tank.

Hope this helps.