Clown Loach has gone into hiding!

[davebarrett]

I have a 70 or so litre tank with:

1 betta
4 neon tetra (were 5 until sometime this week)
6 glowlight tetra
6 guppies
2 Chinese loaches (sucking loaches)
3 clown loaches.

The tank has been running for about five months now (at least!), and I have had no problems (apart from normal new tank teething problems such as brown algae, an initial case of ich when I added plants from my local fish store - from which I will no longer buy anything as the fish I got from there also died).

I got three clown loaches together, and they were all about the same size (one or two inches). In the time I have had them (about three months) they have been great, always around and very playful. One has grown huge (up to three or four inches), one has grown slightly less, and the third has hardly grown at all. Not particularly worried about this, I'm sure the little one will catch up if he wants!

About four days ago I noticed that the large clown had disappeared. The medium clown was around, but not as much, in fact only the little clown is up to his normal tricks.

The large clown is sheltering in the castle in the tank (i.e. completely out of sight) - I double checked this yesterday, and he is still alive. He will not come out of the castle , and when the medium size loach comes out it doesn't seem quite as happy as usual or even as good a swimmer, having to rest frequently.

The large clown was definitely the leader and the most boisterous of the fish... what can be up with him?!

One of my neons has also disappeared this week (completely! Can only assume it died, as it is definitely not around - I cannot find a body however, though I have had this problem before with neons when they die!), so I am concerned that something is up.

Anyone have any suggestions that may help? The other fish all seem to be ok, though to be honest I am not sure they are eating as well as they were up until last week - they used to all fight over the food, etc, whereas now the tetras don't seem all that bothered (though they are still eating).

 

[breezer40]

The first problem I see is your setup. 70Lts is way too small for one clown loach let alone three Clowns are playful and need lots of space so your clown could just be feeling a little closed in. I can only recommend that you either upgrade to a much bigger tank or try and re-home them. Given space they are peaceful but in limited space they can be quite aggressive.

 

[davebarrett]

What would be the minimum size for three clown loaches then?

I have been looking for a tape measure to get a definite size for my tank - at the point I was deciding on the fish I did take advice from my petshop and had the exact tank-size, so iI am concerned if I have been misinformed!

It is odd that the loach has only just developed this behaviour though - it really was a happy fish until end of last week, as they all were. Maybe he grew that extra millimetre and decided he'd had enough...

My brother has a bigger tank than I (probably twice the size), though he already has a couple of clown loaches. Would this be a suitable place for mine if they do need more space? At least until I sort a bigger tank out myself, which won't be for a while.

<Edit>
Just been looking on the net, and came across this: Clown Loach, which states the minimum size for clown loaches is a 20 gallon tank (which my tank is). Had I known my tank was only just the minimum size for loaches, I would have thought at least twice... but... surely this can't be the main problem for fish that have been happy up to now?

 

[kevin007]

DON'T BELEIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!!!!

i will give you a example, i have brought 5 clown loaches for a 10 gallon for 2week they were Very agressive, like cichlids then when i moved them to my 55 gallon ABSOLUTY NONE AGRESSION!! so ime, 10 gallon they are very agressive, 20 gallon half of very agressive, semi agressive, 3 clown loaches in my 10 gallon used to hide alot, because of the agressision of their "leader" but now im a bigger tank my clowns are "angry at the amount of space" no more and they are really peacful now so i will say that one of your clown loach is really pissed at the small tank and is very agressive so some of your clowns that don't like to fight, hides

this is MY experience and imo the minimum tank for clowns are 75 gallons, just think about it, a clown's adult size is 1 feet, but in captivity they are 8 inch, just look at your tank, the tank length is only alittle bit bigger tan the clown large size, sooner or later, they will stunt their growth.

that site is complete peice of trash

 

[David]

DON'T BELEIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!!!!

i will give you a example, i have brought 5 clown loaches for a 10 gallon for 2week they were Very agressive, like cichlids then when i moved them to my 55 gallon ABSOLUTY NONE AGRESSION!! so ime, 10 gallon they are very agressive, 20 gallon half of very agressive, semi agressive, 3 clown loaches in my 10 gallon used to hide alot, because of the agressision of their "leader" but now im a bigger tank my clowns are "angry at the amount of space" no more and they are really peacful now so i will say that one of your clown loach is really pissed at the small tank and is very agressive so some of your clowns that don't like to fight, hides

this is MY experience and imo the minimum tank for clowns are 75 gallons, just think about it, a clown's adult size is 1 feet, but in captivity they are 8 inch, just look at your tank, the tank length is only alittle bit bigger tan the clown large size, sooner or later, they will stunt their growth.

that site is complete peice of trash

I don't think that site is a piece of trash... most of the info given is accurate, however it is wrong on a couple of points. The fact that clown loaches only grow 6" in captivity is not true, and neither can they be kept in a 20 gallon. For 3 full grown clown loaches I would suggest 60 gallons at least. It takes them years to get this big, however, so it's ok to keep juvies in a smaller tank for a while. I wouldn't worry too much... IME clowns are moody and sometimes they hide away for a while and sometimes they are active and outgoing. Mine spends most of the day in the log and comes out late at night, I usually catch a glimpse of him in the morning swimming around with the platies. This is when I feed him sinking pellets.

 

[cation]

IME clowns are moody and sometimes they hide away for a while and sometimes they are active and outgoing. Mine spends most of the day in the log and comes out late at night, I usually catch a glimpse of him in the morning swimming around with the platies. This is when I feed him sinking pellets.

Perhaps yours is moody because they are social fish that prefer to be kept in a group, and you only have one.

 

[canarsie11]

 

[David]

IME clowns are moody and sometimes they hide away for a while and sometimes they are active and outgoing. Mine spends most of the day in the log and comes out late at night, I usually catch a glimpse of him in the morning swimming around with the platies. This is when I feed him sinking pellets.

Perhaps yours is moody because they are social fish that prefer to be kept in a group, and you only have one.

I used to have 3, but 2 of them died. I will be getting more soon. He seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis at the mo, as he like to school with the platies in the morning. It's very strange to see a lone clown loach swimming around near the surface of the water following 2 platies around. Clown loaches are somewhat nocturnal anyway, and he needs to sleep sometime, doesn't he? I suspect that is why he spends the day inside the log and I only see him in the early morning.

 

[canarsie11]

 

[David]

Seriously, dude...



From what I've seen, that face makes up about 40% of your posts. Alright I'm exaggerating, but I have seen you do that at least 15 times. I feel compelled to ask... why? If you would at least give some explanation as to what makes you feel this way, maybe we'd understand...

 

[Gix]

I think a 50 gallon should do pretty well for the majority of your clown loaches' lives.... They'll grow pretty quickly to 6in, but after that growth is very slow. I wouldn't reccomend anything below that though...although when they're still 2 inches long you can probably keep them in a temporary 20g.

 

[tsr770]

The 3 little clown loaches that I have in my heavily planted 46 gallon tank seem to go in streaks of being shy. The last 3 days they have been hiding together under my large sword plant at the back of my tank, this morning they decided to go out and have been out all day poking around all of the plants... eating and playing. Nomally they will stay out and in the open for about a week, then they go back into hiding for a couple days again.... Have been this way for as long as I have had them.

Maybe yours are just going thru a shy period for some unknown reason like mine do

 

[davebarrett]

I'm pleased to say it seems to be as tsr770 said, and my loaches were going through a shy phase (with the exception of the smaller one, who has no problems with confidence!).

I did a water test, and while the water here is very hard (which I have now reduced), there were no problems with it - nitrite at 0, nitrate less than 100 (also high due to the water here, and I am also reducing that gradually). I am reducing levels simply by using RO water from my LFS, no chemicals or such (I hate them, so presume the fish would too!).

I have added many more hiding places for the loaches in the tank and given them a large piece of wood (aren' they lucky! ), and that seems to have chilled them out lots (previously the tank had a couple of hiding places and lots of plants). I always see all three of them playing chase first thing in the morning now.

I was concerned over the advice I was given over the tank size, and have been consulting many people with regards to this. No-one I have spoken to (LFS, other loach keepers) believe this was the problem, or that it is a problem currently. My loaches are 4inch, 3 inch, and 1-1.5 inch.

I would love to get a larger tank at some point in the future (almost bought one this weekend in fact, but restrained myself!), but am happy that I am not stressing my fish in any way currently in this regard.

The only sad news I have to report is that my Betta died at the weekend. Not sure why, came back in the evening to find it lying on it's side on the bottom of the tank . I will not be replacing it short-term, though am on the look-out for one or two interesting fish to complete my tank. Any suggestions welcome!!