Clown loach

[byron69]

My clown loach has been on his own for about 8 months and started acting a little strange so i thought id get him some playmates and got 4 more, the 4 as a group went straight over to him and almost instantly he turned a pale grey on his normally black areas and keeps swimming away, the others follow him around as if it is some game but he seems genuinely stressed.

Any ideas of what i could do to help them out?

 

[Fat Boy]

I would'nt worry to much about the paleness of your loaches stripes, I've heard it's a group ranking thing i.e the darker the stripes the higher the ranking. Clowns are very socialable fish and I'd be surprised if new ones are being agressive. Great idea to get him some friends though.

 

[Captain Canuck]

The following is from www.loaches.com

People have theorized that "gray" fish are sub-dominant when they remain this color for prolonged periods, but I have noticed that my Dominant (Alpha) fish is often the one showing this color. They can change from regular coloration to "gray" quite quickly, particularly at feeding time, when many squabbles break out. Depending on one's tank lighting, this color change may show a kind of greenish, metallic sheen to the whole body, most noticeable over the stripes. The edges of the stripes tend to have a sort of paler area than the rest of the stripe.

This describes my expereince too. The obviously dominant one in my tank is often gray. Hope that helps.

 

[Al Bundy]

I have also had this with one of my clowns. He turned back pretty quick too!

 

[David]

The following is from www.loaches.com

People have theorized that "gray" fish are sub-dominant when they remain this color for prolonged periods, but I have noticed that my Dominant (Alpha) fish is often the one showing this color. They can change from regular coloration to "gray" quite quickly, particularly at feeding time, when many squabbles break out. Depending on one's tank lighting, this color change may show a kind of greenish, metallic sheen to the whole body, most noticeable over the stripes. The edges of the stripes tend to have a sort of paler area than the rest of the stripe.

This describes my expereince too. The obviously dominant one in my tank is often gray. Hope that helps.

Yes when I had clowns my big dominant one was grey, while the little ones had dark black stripes.

 

[FanOFish]

It just so happens that my dominate clown turns gray more often as well. However, I'm not sure that is an indication of dominance. I think mine turn gray if they are scared or stressed....I notice when nobody is around particularly with the light out that both of mine are dark black. When you turn on the light they both disappear for a minute and when they return the larger one is always more gray.
Who know

 

[Loach Man]

My clowns all have dark stripes