Agressive clown

[Pixelated_Pirate]

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[quote="Pixelated_Pirate"]Hey everyone,

So I just got back from my trip to Africa two days ago. I had my brother look after my fish for the 3 weeks I was gone and.... THEY ALL LIVED =) Yay.

So yes, you may remember a while back I had a problem with rapid breathing... well two of the 3 clown loaches died by the one that survived is very healthy now... pretty fat, beautiful colours all that I could ask for. Althought he was a bit shy after putting him back in my main tank after transporting him out of the qtank. So 3 days before I left for Africa I bought a fake driftwood cave, it looked like a perfect loach hotel.

So now that I am back he is very active and amazing. I gues he liked his new hiding spot. He REALLY has to squeeze to get in there now cuase he is a little bigger then when I left. I went to the LFS because I missed all my fish and wanted to see what was happening in the fish world. I came across a clown the same size as mine but this one had 4 stripes... well 3 stripes and a huge dot. So I had to get it. 

I thought it would be a good idea for my clown because all his friends had passed away before I left and he was all alone for about a month. When I introduced the new clown to the tank the old one kept chasing it and hasn't stopped since. At feeding time the new one tries to eat the food while the old one chases it and pecks at the new one while he is eating. 

So my question is, does anyone know why my old clown mgiht be se agressive? The fish are the same size... the only thing I can think of is if my clown claimed the tank because he is the biggest fish in there next to the common plecostomus. Or maybe it's because the new clown has 4 stripes instead of 3? 

My other question is, are they hurting each other or just playing? Cause the new loach just runs, he never defends himself or attack the other loach, he just runs. None of the frontal spike spines have come out yet, so I hope they are just playing. I've never seen behavior like this before?

It may be a stupid newbie question, so please if anyone has any insight please feel free to give your two cents. I will try to take and upload phtotos tomorrow but for now I gotta upload all my Africa photos off my camera. And I did get a new camera for my trip so my photos wont be dark and blurry! Yay!

Thanx in advance,

~ Jeffrey[/quote]

So yeah guys... I moved around the stuff in the tank and they are still at it. I think I am gunna get a bunch (maybe 3) small one inch clowns to bring the total to 5... you think that will calm them down? I plan to go to the LFS tomorrow so I hope this works. If for any reason you guys don't think I should add the 3 little guys please respond with any other suggestions to calm the agressive clown down.

Thanx in advance

[tattooedgemini]

yeah, i think that should help..there may be still some power struggles, but the alpha should lay off the other guy once he gets some new guys to lead around

[Blue]

Striped variations have nothing to do with their behavior. The problem is you kept only two and they often chase each other due to dominance. 3 is the minimum number suggested when keeping loaches. 5 is even better.

[Pixelated_Pirate]

Yeah i know blue =(

I am quite aware of that... but I HAD 3... and then before I left for Africa for a month two died... I managed to save one. I had no other options. I will go today to get more... hopefully it will calm them a bit.

Thanx for you advice guys

[shari2]

Don't forget to quarantine the new additions...

[Pixelated_Pirate]

Yup =)

Got them all in Q right now...

I hope it works.

[bslindgren]

I had one lonely ~4" (10 cm) clown and added four one inchers. The large one doesn't even pay attention to the small guys, and vice versa for the most part (sometimes they'll follow the big guy around a bit). Small ones may not trigger dominance behavior except among themselves, so if you can get some that are closer in size it may work better.

[crazy loaches]

I had one lonely ~4" (10 cm) clown and added four one inchers. The large one doesn't even pay attention to the small guys, and vice versa for the most part (sometimes they'll follow the big guy around a bit). Small ones may not trigger dominance behavior except among themselves, so if you can get some that are closer in size it may work better.

I had a similar situation when I added 3 new clowns to my existing 3 - they pretty much kept to two different groups. But after about 6 months and the new ones had grown larger they all grouped together. So it may just take some time for the little ones to get accepted.