My clown loaches

[platypus]

I LOVE that clicking noise - I always wondered where on earth such a big noise came from because they have such teensy mouths!

Clicking is from the One row of Pharyngeal throat teeth.

and now I know!

Plec it's hard to say what might have upset your clownie . I've never seen mine with their spines out - I think they trigger them as a defensive mechanism so perhaps you are right and the tank vac distressed him? Although I have never heard this happen before. How big/old was he? And how long had he been in the tank? Sorry for your loss anyway.

 

[Plec]

Clown loaches & Clicking

Many people have never heard Clown Loaches click but I have found a sure fire way to make them click (well at least it makes mine click!)

What you will need:

1. Clown Loaches
(Well obviously, but more than one (They should be kept in groups any ways).

2. A cooked new potato
(That’s the small ones for those of you who are to busy with your fish to know about the room in your house call the “kitchen”… what ever that is?)

How to serve:

1. Make sure they are cooked through, and then let one cool down (you can eat the rest).
2. Then wash under the hot tap to remove any butter or salt used in cooking.
3. Then cut a slither of the potato thick enough so that it stays in one piece but not to fat, as it will just go to waste, remove any skin (Potato as you may have guessed do nothing for your water quality).
4. NOTE: Don’t serve any bits of the potato that have any green bits in it this means that there is a build up of arsenic in that area or the whole potato. (Yes you can get arsenic out of potatoes, so now you know)
5. Put in the tank and let it sit on the bottom.
6. If you have Angels they will pick at it but spit it back out.
7. As soon as the Clown Loaches find it they will devour it and start clicking.
8. If you have Plecs they will polish off any bits left over.
9. I would not recommend this as a regular feed, I don’t know how good it is for the fish, but it certainly isn’t good for water quality as small bits of potato work there way in to the gravel. So do this just before a water change/gravel-vacing.

Tell me if this works for you, I would love to find out!