New Clown Loaches
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New Clown Loaches
I recently picked up 3 clown loaches at my LFS. I introduced them (slowly acclimated) to my 55 gal..which is clean and about 82 degrees...the first day after purchasing they were all over the tank...swimming about chasing, etc..second day (yesterday) and today...they have been in hiding constantly..they are all under a piece of driftwood and do not come out even at night or when food is present...there are two uarus in the tank about 5" and 3 silver dollars about 4" ..the loaches are about 3"..no one bothered the loaches..just wondering what this could mean...any help appreciated
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Emma Turner
- Posts: 8901
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm
- Location: Peterborough, UK
- Contact:
Hi Lono, welcome to Loaches Online.
This is quite normal behaviour for newly introduced clown loaches. They tend to 'dance' up and down the glass initially, and then settle down to find their bearings. Being a nocturnal species, they do not like bright lighting and are more likely to be venturing out under cover of darkness. I'd suggest adding a blue moon light tube to your set up, timed to come on just before the main lights go off. Then you can observe them for a few hours under this subdued form of light - and feed them - before switching the blue moon light off. Also 3 is quite a low number, I would advise that you get a least another 2 clowns to boost the number in the group - they are incredibly social fish and bigger shoals will give them confidence.
Also, make sure you have plenty of hidey holes - bogwood, caves etc and a decent current/high O2 levels for them.
Emma
This is quite normal behaviour for newly introduced clown loaches. They tend to 'dance' up and down the glass initially, and then settle down to find their bearings. Being a nocturnal species, they do not like bright lighting and are more likely to be venturing out under cover of darkness. I'd suggest adding a blue moon light tube to your set up, timed to come on just before the main lights go off. Then you can observe them for a few hours under this subdued form of light - and feed them - before switching the blue moon light off. Also 3 is quite a low number, I would advise that you get a least another 2 clowns to boost the number in the group - they are incredibly social fish and bigger shoals will give them confidence.
Also, make sure you have plenty of hidey holes - bogwood, caves etc and a decent current/high O2 levels for them.
Emma
East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
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Emma Turner
- Posts: 8901
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm
- Location: Peterborough, UK
- Contact:
Glad to be of help!
The clown loaches will outgrow the current aquarium in a few years though, and they'll need to be moved to a tank that measures at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft.
I'm not familiar with that Whisper filter, but hopefully others will chime in with whether this provides enough filtration and water movement. You might want to add a powerhead or two anyway, as the more flow, the better. The bubble wands won't be putting a huge amount of O2 into the water (only where the bubbles break at the water's surface) so if you aren't already doing so, try and create turbulence at the water's surface with the filter outlet or powerheads. Clown loaches come from fast moving river environments, so it is important that the water is highly oxygenated and that they have enough water movement.
With regards to other loaches, there are plenty that would be suitable for that tank, and which shouldn't outgrow it like the clowns. But if you intend to keep the clowns long-term and will definitely be upgrading the size of their tank, then I'd stick to getting just more of this species until you move them into bigger quarters. They have such highly complex social structures and it really is a case of the more, the merrier. It is best to stick to one or two species and have plenty of each, rather than one or two each of several different species.
Have a look through these articles, which may be of some help:
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus
http://www.loaches.com/articles/an-intr ... ping-botia
http://www.loaches.com/articles/my-clown-loach-aquarium
Emma
The clown loaches will outgrow the current aquarium in a few years though, and they'll need to be moved to a tank that measures at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft.
I'm not familiar with that Whisper filter, but hopefully others will chime in with whether this provides enough filtration and water movement. You might want to add a powerhead or two anyway, as the more flow, the better. The bubble wands won't be putting a huge amount of O2 into the water (only where the bubbles break at the water's surface) so if you aren't already doing so, try and create turbulence at the water's surface with the filter outlet or powerheads. Clown loaches come from fast moving river environments, so it is important that the water is highly oxygenated and that they have enough water movement.
With regards to other loaches, there are plenty that would be suitable for that tank, and which shouldn't outgrow it like the clowns. But if you intend to keep the clowns long-term and will definitely be upgrading the size of their tank, then I'd stick to getting just more of this species until you move them into bigger quarters. They have such highly complex social structures and it really is a case of the more, the merrier. It is best to stick to one or two species and have plenty of each, rather than one or two each of several different species.
Have a look through these articles, which may be of some help:
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus
http://www.loaches.com/articles/an-intr ... ping-botia
http://www.loaches.com/articles/my-clown-loach-aquarium
Emma
East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
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