my confused loach

[wuvmybetta]

Ok, I couldn't find the discussion about the memory span of a fish so I'll just post a new one...I was adding some new plants so I did some rearranging in the tank and there was this ugly sunkin' ship decor that my daughter picked out when we 1st bought the aquarium , it was huge, taking up at least a 15th of the floor of the tank,but my 2 clown loaches slept in there so I always kept it....until today, I arranged everything so that no one really lost any territory (except the loaches ) but I set them up a nice little corner that I assumed they would take up residency in, which one did, they're always the 1st ones to "bed" usually crashing out and retiring for the night a couple of hours before I turn the light off, well the 1 loach went exactly where I thought they would, but the other has forever been looking in the area for that ship, it's almost as if he won't give up and he's sure it's there somewhere .... , I feel so guilty, I did all of the changes early in the day so they'd have time to get familiar with everything but now the lights have been off for a couple of hours and he's still searching while all the others are snoozing, poor little guy, I wonder how long it will take him to forget...

 

[reg2k2]

He won't give up the ship!!

Aww...poor thing. Hope he settles in soon.

 

[Dragonslair]

Fish don't actually sleep in the sense that you and I know, because they must have water constantly passing through their gills to breathe. Fish also are predators by nature and they all have their "patch". Even in an aquarium! So if you were thinking of changing decor, you would have been best off re-arranging everything, so when you returned your fish back to the tank-everyone would need to set up a new patch. Your loach will have been under considerable stress looking for his patch. It wouldn't surprise me if you wrote back in a couple of days to say you can see white spot on it as clown loaches are very suseptible to stress and white spot. I do hope it is alright and does settle down.

 

[reg2k2]

ooooo...didn't think of that....good point, Dragon.

I was wondering, tho...do they have any hidey-holes, say in the new area?

 

[Dragonslair]

Learned by experience reg2k2. Happened to me many moons ago when I decided to change the rock formation in the tank. I had some displaced refugees. They were not too or even three happy! So to make it fair on everybody, I took out the occupants and re-arranged the tank,plants, rock formations and all their their kit and kaboodle. The introduced them back to the tank. The only old thing they had was their water. They adapted and everyone found their own patch after 24 hours.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Luckily I did rearrange everything at the same time, even most of my plants which were really starting to root well , the loach finally calmed down a few hours after I posted and went into the little corner I had set up for them , the other one never even seemed phased at all by the changes, it was for the best because they have so much more floor space now and I believe they've completely forgotten. I did buy a small piece of driftwood for them today that has a cave like shape to it that I thought they might like but I think my plec has claimed it as his 3rd hide out in the tank B) My daughter likes the driftwood, it's the second 1 in the tank like that and she said we should buy a bunch and stack them so the fish can have their own apartments
But as far as the loach goes ,he seems well and happy as long as I keep that food coming.... , by the way when I did the rearranging I just lifted the flap and did it with the lights on so the fish could watch, I would imagine taking them out and plopping them back in a completely different surrounding would be even more traumatic , but I don't know, my betta likes to supervise where I put the plants anyway , and he likes to get the point across that I'm to move NOTHING in his area, it's just the way he likes it, but he's more than happy to let me add to it any time





give up the ship!! too funny!

 

[Dragonslair]

Yeah, move the decor however you wish as long as your fish wern't too stressed as they swim through the murky waters. Taking the fish out and returning them when the water clarity had returned was just a suggestion, but your method was perfectly acceptable as long as your fish accepted it also.

 

[GraemeK]

i moved my tank yesterday and when i finished setting it up the filter shimp walked around the tank then headed straight for his stop! i was supprised as he was out the tank for a few hours...they must have a memory too

 

[wuvmybetta]

Murky is right!!! I couldn't believe how much debris was trapped under the decor and all that came up when I moved the plants,it made me realize how much more I need to vacuum in there. I do it often but they're usually quicky jobs I guess I shouldn't worry about messing up the root system on my plants if it gets that messy around them
As far as the shrimp goes, that's pretty cool about them remembering and kinda makes me feel bad for my ghost shrimp that I have, they keep becoming snacks in between feedings for my glow light tetras .... wonder if they remember seeing their buddy get eaten .... , I had 15+ and now I'm down to 5, but I guess I'll always have some in there since my betta LOVES to play cat & mouse with them