My clown - Unbeleivably good at hiding!
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 12:30 am
I've had a tank for around 4 years. It was originally stocked with a variety of freshwater fish, most of them not known for being particularly hardy. I was originally unaware of the clown's need to be "Social" with other members of its kind. He was fine though, he seemed to like to hang out with other red/black fish that had similar coloring to him.
There had been some stretches of time when I hadn't seen him, but I saw him out and about the tank often enough (at least at feeding time). One time I thought there was a problem, so I went and removed all of the decorations from the tank in search of him and almost killed him, he was hiding deep within a tree trunk. Even after searching it with a flashlight I couldn't see him, but once I put it back in the tank he popped out from somewhere.
Over the years, the other fish have slowly died off or simply gone "missing". It's probably been around 6 monhs or so since I've seen the loach. Now keep in mind, I work from home so I'm infront of this tank day and night. So I presume he's dead. Finally I get down to what I think is the last remaining fish in the tank, and decide it's time to start over again, "clown loach only" with 5 new Clown Loaches.
So I'm watching the new little guys do their dances around the tank and my eye catches something odd, it looked like a big tail. No way, I must be seeing things. Couple hours later, I turn the tank light out and guess who's out and swimming ALL over the tank? The original loach!
Geeze, I would have been putting more food in the tank and got him some buddies sooner had I known he was still in there!
I should have known he was stil around by the fact that the rocks on the bottom of the tank were rather clean.
There had been some stretches of time when I hadn't seen him, but I saw him out and about the tank often enough (at least at feeding time). One time I thought there was a problem, so I went and removed all of the decorations from the tank in search of him and almost killed him, he was hiding deep within a tree trunk. Even after searching it with a flashlight I couldn't see him, but once I put it back in the tank he popped out from somewhere.
Over the years, the other fish have slowly died off or simply gone "missing". It's probably been around 6 monhs or so since I've seen the loach. Now keep in mind, I work from home so I'm infront of this tank day and night. So I presume he's dead. Finally I get down to what I think is the last remaining fish in the tank, and decide it's time to start over again, "clown loach only" with 5 new Clown Loaches.
So I'm watching the new little guys do their dances around the tank and my eye catches something odd, it looked like a big tail. No way, I must be seeing things. Couple hours later, I turn the tank light out and guess who's out and swimming ALL over the tank? The original loach!
Geeze, I would have been putting more food in the tank and got him some buddies sooner had I known he was still in there!
I should have known he was stil around by the fact that the rocks on the bottom of the tank were rather clean.
