Clown Loach Ate My Guppy

[IanB]

Yesterday I got home from work to find one of my Clown Loaches eating a female Guppy which was still alive! After rescuing and isolating the Guppy, she later died as most of her tail was missing.
I only have two Clown Loaches in my 180 litre tank so I presumed they would have enough food between them, but obviously not. What additional food should I give them to prevent a repeat of this?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Aaaaw that's sad (and a little scary since I just bought 2 myself) But I've heard clown loaches like cucumbers and bananas, I haven't tried either myself since mine have only been in the tank a few days but they don't really eat as much as the other fish do during feeding so I may try it tomorrow A.M. I'll let ya know how they respond

 

[IanB]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try.
Most of the food I put in gets eaten by my two silver sharks who race around and wolf it up before it hits the bottom. Presumably a cucumber slice would last a bit longer and give the others a chance.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I tried a tiny chunk of banana this morning and the loaches loved it! They looked so cute and they devoured it

 

[bodyshop20]

Its not a matter of amount of food, it the right food for the right fish,
Place a slice of cucumber (which will have to be weighted down) about 5millimeters thick on bottom.
Loach will devour it and leave guppies to swim around breeding like rabbits like they do
And you will

 

[IanB]

Place a slice of cucumber ... Loach will devour it ...

I tried them with some cucumber but they didn't seem too interested (unlike the sharks, they loved it! )
I think I'll see if they prefer banana, but this time I'll have to hide it in a place where the sharks can't fit.

 

[CFC]

How big are the sharks?Try feeding Hikari sinking wafers which are designed for small catfish and loaches they should be too big for the sharks to wolf down in one and by the time they have softened up enough for the loaches to eat them the sharks will hopefully forgoten about them.Another trick is to feed floating foods such as flake or live glassworm to distract the sharks while you put in sinking foods for the bottom dwellers.

 

[IanB]

How big are the sharks?

They're both about six inches long and they miss nothing! If there's food around they know.

 

[CFC]

If you can get it the live glassworm will keep them preoccupied for a while,i have 4 10" sharks and they love it,you could also try feeding rivershrimp,at 6" they should be able to cope with them and will spend hours trying to catch them at first although they soon get the knack of it.

 

[Gibbo]

Your Loaches wouldn't have 'attacked' the Guppy, something else would. Possibly her tail had been nibbled by another fish ( got any Barbs in there, or even some nippier Teras or Angels) and this inhibited her swimming. Any fish will scavenge and pick on disabled or sick fish, It's natures way I'm afraid. Take a look at your Clown Loaches mouthparts - hardly designed as Picivores are they? Too small a mouth. Their natural diet is Insect larvae, small invertebrates and small crustacea that they suck out of the river bottom. They're bottom feeders, not ambush predators. If a fish has damaged tissue them another will pick at it, wether it be dead or alive.

 

[IanB]

Your Loaches wouldn't have 'attacked' the Guppy, something else would. Possibly her tail had been nibbled by another fish ( got any Barbs in there, or even some nippier Teras or Angels

Well, my male Siamese Fighter can be a bit aggresive at times so maybe it was him, although he does have four laydeeez so you'd think he'd be happy
Other than the Clown Loaches and two Silver Sharks I've got a Plec, Glowlights, Neon Tetras and Penguins so nothing too predatory really.