My Clown Loach Plays Dead!

[mike_nofx]

Today i seen one of my clown loaches (i have 6) lying down in a corner on the driftwood. He looked dead, and i thought, "Oh no, this is the first fish to die in this tank!" i got ready to get him out, then i thought i better see if hes still alive and ill put him in a hospital.

So to see if he responded, i put some food in the tank, and within seconds he was alive and well and mixed in with the other loaches. I couldnt even tell which one he was!!

Then a few hours later, he was in the exact same spot, looking completely dead! So, i put a little more food in the tank, and up he got, swimming around fine!

Is this normal behaviour? Is he sick?

I actually had an Angel in the same tank die this afternoon... All water parameters are fine.

Thanks

 

[millym]

hi
most loaches including clowns do a fair bit of lying around on their sides its normal behaviour. we have 2 yoyo loaches & the first time i saw one of them lying down i too thought it was dead/dying/sick .......until i waved a net in his direction & he scooted off looking very p***d off at being disturbed. ours also sometimes lie completely upside down, doesnt look very comfy to me!!!!!!

 

[Teelie]

It would be abnormal not to see some loaches do this occasionally. They'll also make a clicking sound sometimes, mine do it while feeding. Usually it's just from excitement or maybe a "back off" warning no other fish listen to.

 

[mike_nofx]

Ive never heard the clicking sound. I will have to turn my filter off next feeding so i can hear it!
Is it loud?

 

[Bloo]

Mine sometimes click so loudly I can hear them in the next room ! I'm not kidding.
They're not clowns but Botia Kubotia - they usually only click when they get their favourite food - Hikari sinking or algae wafers

 

[millym]

yes as bloo says the clicking is loud!! i used to think it was them knocking a bit of gravel against the glass whilst foraging around until they started clicking when eating a tubifex cube floating up the top.........i shouldnt think you'd need to turn off your filter to hear them just feed something they love.bloodworm,tablets,tubifex cubes

 

[Teelie]

It can be quite loud. I can hear it from the foyer where they are, past the kitchen and into the hallway that leads to my bedroom sometimes.

 

[CaysE]

My clown plays dead almost every day... it seems they do it when bored or sleeping. he's quite healthy when I walk up to the tank and he swims away.

As for the clicking, I used to have a catfish in the tank with the loach, and the loach would click at the catfish occassionally if he was in the loach's hiding place.

 

[TammyLiz]

I have 5 yoyos, 2 rostrata, and 1 striata. They love the hikari algae wafers, too. My poor plec doesn't know how to stand up for himself. He hovers nearby while they click and eat. They are noisiest when they are eating veggie-based flakes, though! It seems strange to me. I'd expect them to vocalize more over the frozen bloodworms, but maybe they're too busy stuffing their faces.

 

[Neo8223]

My Clowns do it all the time, they tend to sleep in very crazy positions too. If its dark and alkward to get into, they will sleep there. Totally crazy places include:

In a log with very small gaps,
In my trio 2000 filter! One of my filter suction pad had gone, so there was a small gap, two clown loaches every day would go in and out of the filter. I only noticed when i went to clean out my filter and opened it up to see both clown loaches wriggling away! they were about 2 inches long.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The funniest part is if you watch them falling asleep. They are upright and then slowly they will keel over.