Clown loach

[Rose]

If you want to try and get him out feed the tank some frozen Blood worms. A loaches favorite food. You may have to do this a few feedings in a row to get him out. You would be surprised at how small of a opening they can stuff themselves into. Any way don't worry about it too much. The more cover you have the more time they will spend out in the open where you can enjoy them more. Rose

 

[cichlidmaster]

IMO NEVER try to extract a fish from a shell that seems to be to small for it to have been able to get into in the first place.
Fish have an uncanny ability to get out of tight places. I once had to extract a male Neolamprologus calvus from a shell he got stuck in and it ended with his untimely demise.

I'm with Rose, leave to his own resources and I am sure he will get himself out.

Must be a male...you know males are ALWAYS getting themselves into tight places and then having to find a way to wiggle out of them

 

[james80000]

well he was sharing the shell with the catfish, who didnt approve. The clown eventually got out. The catfish wont let him back in (which i suppose is a good thing).
And they all lived happily ever after. I HOPE!

 

[cichlidmaster]

Glad to hear it James.

 

[Rose]

I figured as much would happen. He'll find his place in the tank and all will be good. Rose

 

[Davy Reynolds]

That sounds like typical Clown loaches to me, I'd love some but Sandra won't allow it. Looks like more tanks are needed 8)

 

[Dragonslair]

There is an article in this month's "Today's Fishkeeper" about Clown loaches. Quite interesting.

 

[Macquatic]

Glad you found the awol loach J8. Clowns can be sensitve to water conditions and prone to whitespot. Keep your water tip-top and your loaches will be as happy as Davy with a case of bears!! :laugh: :laugh: Mac.

 

[james80000]

also they sleep during the day on their backs and sides. I went to pick one out as I thought he was dead. I touched him with the net and he started moving again. A nice surprise!

 

[Davy Reynolds]

:laugh: The most favioured trick of all. The playing dead routine :laugh:

 

[james80000]

i think they will be quite cool once i get used to them 8)
I just keep thinkin OH NO when I cant find them or see them lying there motionless

 

[adeyc]

You think they're bad? try looking for kuhli loaches sometime. lmao. Why did i go and get more of the sods. Not as comical as clowns but even more elusive.

 

[Dragonslair]

I bought 3 of those, I haven't seen them yet. Oh I tell a lie, I saw them once when the lights went out during the electrical storm we had recently. Between the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder which shook everything, they appeared.Probably thought it was an earthquake. Mind you I have a major rock formation with a lot of crevices and caves, anything could be hiding away. It was primarily designed with the protection of fry in mind and the caves for the bristlenosed plecs. The formation was created using the spraydekkor and pieces of river rock. It is now covered with java moss in two weeks. The spraydekkor has a rough texture which seems to be a good surface for the mossy stuff. Just need to keep a close eye on it so the stuff doesn't get out of control.

 

[Feargal]

I agree about the Kuhli loaches... I used to have a couple in a five foot tropical setup and I never saw them!

Sometimes they would dissapear for weeks on end and I would think they had died, only for them to turn up at the front of the tank one day!

Clown loaches - much livelier (and funnier)

 

[mrV]

I am taking the leporinus back today. Can I get clown loaches? he has some in the shop. do they "go" with all my other fish? Angel, gold barbs, neons, mollies, guppies and black widows.

I dont know about leporinus. Do you mean Leporinus fasciatus? If do, how big is your tank? And i think Leporinus fasciatus is hardwater fish too.

"Angel, gold barbs, neons, mollies, guppies and black widows"

Hmm... Is your water hard or soft, what about pH? Because you have now both soft water and hard water fish in same tank(?).

Clown loach (botia macracanthus) is quite big fish, 30cm and need a quite big tank, over 300 liter for 3 fish. You know that b. macracanthus need school otherwise it will die. Minimum school is 3 fish. And it lives warm water 25-30 degrees, soft water too.

Botias are quite wicked fish, they all have tends to eat other fish eyes, especially corydoras... There is several report that b. macracanthus has been seen eaten eyes. So when buying botias (especially botia striata) you should be careful and watch what they are doing...

And if you can german, you should read book from Gerhard Ott "Schmerlen im Aquarium" (Tetra Verlag).