Help With Loach Behavior

[lemond68]

Hi I am relative newbie, we just bought 3 clown loaches to add to our aquarium. It is a 55 gallon (208 L) tank with these fish:

2 yoyo loaches
2 red tail sharks (they don't fight?!!?!)
4 angel fish
1 common pleco
1 banjo catfish
5 cardinal tetras
3 coolie loaches

and lots of hiding places (logs, plants, etc). Temp is 23 C (72 F).

the question is: they have been hiding under a hollow log since I bought them and hardly seem to come out even at night. if I lift the log they come out and swim quickly and don't seem like they are working to breathe. will they eventually come out when they are bigger? are the community fish too big or non compatible?

thanks

 

[mikev]

This is perfectly normal, and you don't have to wait till they are bigger -- with luck they will be more active in 2-3 weeks.

I'd suggest that you don't touch the log -- this just makes them more nervous and they will hide more.

And it may help if you move around the tank slowly, sometimes rapid movements of a large object outside the tank stresses them. This is only for now; after they settle in, they would not care; my four, for example, interpret outside movements as signals that food may be coming (so they come out). Lately, they even notice the flakes container, so if I wave it in front of the tank, they go into the "food corner".


hth