Skinny clown loach and... clams?

[Dephea]

720L
All stats fine, no ammonia, no parasites, no fish dying since Feb (bala jumped out so not even water related).

One of my clown loaches got VERY skinny, I can see his bones (the ones behind his head), 2nd loach getting skinnier but still looking good. I have 6 of them, all others are nice and chunky. I want to get the skinny ones back to their chubby forms so I set up a quarantine tank and I was feeding them a variety of foods. I noticed that the best success I have was with frozen bloodworms (they vacuum the bottom of the tank in no time) and... nerite snails. Now I don't have enough of those, I don't breed them and I am not willing to keep buying live snails just to feed so I was considering buying frozen clams and using that for extra variety.

in UK Morrisons and Asda sell them, they are clean and not salted etc so I was wondering if it would be a good idea to try? I will bend over backwards to get those 2 loaches back to normal so I am willing to try anything that's accessible for me. I tried vegetables too and some are going in well but it's meaty stuff they prefer so I shall deliver. Thoughts?

 

[itiwhetu]

Keep going with frozen blood worms.

 

[Dephea]

Is there a reason to not to try clams? Not that I HAVE to use them if it's unhealthy or dangerous but I wonder if there is a reason to avoid them, I enjoy introducing new foods for all my pets and the rule applies to my fish too

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

There's no harm in trying small pieces of the shop-bought clams, provided you keep the tank clean, (but you'll know that already ).
Clown Loaches are one of those fish sold too many times, without their carers knowing how best to care for them. (If buyers were made aware, I'd suspect their sales would plummet).
Clowns thrive best on live food, but that is now increasingly hard to obtain.
Another tip is to feed them tiny amounts, many times during the day.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I suspect the 'keep going with bloodworm' response was based upon the not-inconsiderable fact that you know they'll eat it and you're understandably wanting the fish to gain some weight.

 

[Dephea]

There's no harm in trying small pieces of the shop-bought clams, provided you keep the tank clean, (but you'll know that already ).
Clown Loaches are one of those fish sold too many times, without their carers knowing how best to care for them. (If buyers were made aware, I'd suspect their sales would plummet).
Clowns thrive best on live food, but that is now increasingly hard to obtain.
Another tip is to feed them tiny amounts, many times during the day.

I am staying on top of the cleaning and test water regularly, also gave other fish in the main tank so if I introduce it there it will all be gone. Not worried about that part

As for live food I provide them with live daphnia, bloodworm and whatever else my LFS is selling, I like to rotate things. I do nerite snail top ups too but considering just getting bladder snails for this purpose as well. I tried small maggots and that went down fast BUT I am very much creeped out by them so looking for other alternatives too

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I am staying on top of the cleaning and test water regularly, also gave other fish in the main tank so if I introduce it there it will all be gone. Not worried about that part

As for live food I provide them with live daphnia, bloodworm and whatever else my LFS is selling, I like to rotate things. I do nerite snail top ups too but considering just getting bladder snails for this purpose as well. I tried small maggots and that went down fast BUT I am very much creeped out by them so looking for other alternatives too

Sounds like you have it covered.
Keep on with the experimenting with different foods. Prawns? Crab? Trout? Cod roe?
Maggots ARE gross. I knew an old fisherman who would use these as bait and, on cold, winter mornings, he'd keep them warm...in...his...mouth! And whatever you do, DON'T look at them under a microscope! Nightmares for ever.

 

[Dephea]

Keep on with the experimenting with different foods. Prawns? Crab? Trout? Cod roe?

I actually do have prawns but they come pre-cooked. Would that be ok? I suppose there is no harm as if they don't eat it I will just take it out but not sure if I should go raw instead?

I heard about the maggots in the mouth, dear god absolutely no They are disgusting as they are so I will pass on inspecting them

 

[itiwhetu]

Just remember that prawns and clams come from the ocean and these are freshwater fish. There fore blood worms are what they would naturally eat.

 

[Dephea]

Just remember that prawns and clams come from the ocean and these are freshwater fish. There fore blood worms are what they would naturally eat.

Fair point but aren't some prawns and clams freshwater too? I will check the origin of the ones in the shop but when I googled it originally people did divide those into freshwater too hence why I assumed it was a good idea to ask for more opinions / advice and give it a try. In the end cucumbers are not falling into freshwater rivers/lakes and yet we do feed our fish that, no? Let me see where the clams from the shop come from

 

[itiwhetu]

Fair point but aren't some prawns and clams freshwater too? I will check the origin of the ones in the shop but when I googled it originally people did divide those into freshwater too hence why I assumed it was a good idea to ask for more opinions / advice and give it a try. In the end cucumbers are not falling into freshwater rivers/lakes and yet we do feed our fish that, no? Let me see where the clams from the shop come from

Some people feed cucumber. Can you imagine your little fish eating one of your clams or prawns without you helping them.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Fair point but aren't some prawns and clams freshwater too? I will check the origin of the ones in the shop but when I googled it originally people did divide those into freshwater too hence why I assumed it was a good idea to ask for more opinions / advice and give it a try. In the end cucumbers are not falling into freshwater rivers/lakes and yet we do feed our fish that, no? Let me see where the clams from the shop come from

Whilst both shop-bought prawn and clams are usually saltwater, you'll be defrosting them in water before hand and this will dilute their actual salt content, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Don't confuse 'coldwater' with 'fresh water'.

I wouldn't get distracted by foods available, or not, to the fish in their wild environment. There is much in quality flake foods, for example, that will never see the waters of the Amazon, or a SE Asian creek.

 

[Dephea]

Some people feed cucumber. Can you imagine your little fish eating one of your clams or prawns without you helping them.

Clown loaches? 100% yes. I can see how they shred snails, so I have absolutely no reason to believe they would not handle a clam or a prawn that was cut into smaller pieces. I even reckon that the bigger loaches would easily get into the shell of a clam if they had to. Other fish? Depends. I do know that when loaches go for snails they literally shred them so whatever leftovers float around are eaten by the smaller fish so on that part I don't see a problem Plus I am genuinely only targeting loaches here, smaller fish are naturally more limited in what they eat but I also do have a wide variety of dry, frozen and live foods for them so in the event of them not being able to munch on a clam they won't go hungry anyway

 

[Dephea]

Don't confuse 'coldwater' with 'fresh water'.

Yeah that is very likely my mistake, I do confuse them and I won't even pretend that I know what I'm talking about

I wouldn't get distracted by foods available, or not, to the fish in their wild environment. There is much in quality flake foods, for example, that will never see the waters of the Amazon, or a SE Asian creek.

Yeah I am definitely more flexible when it comes to that, kind of going with the rule that if there is no harm in it and the fish might enjoy it I will give it a go. I monitor feeding times so any uneaten stuff gets removed fast. I do believe in caring what they eat but I am guilty of not knowing what naturally occurring foods I am missing. Never even considered that as all my fish food is designed for tropical fish so I trust it's good for them. I will google it though, I'm interested now how far I am from the 'ideal' food

 

[Byron]

Why not buy frozen food made for fish instead of humans? I can get frozen daphnia, bloodworms, shrimp, plankton; used to get frozen squid (this is highly nutritious and my fish really went after it) and frozen clam. I just did a search and frozen squid is produced by Hikari, San Francisco Bay, and Brine Shrimp Direct--all are fish food manufacturers in the USA so you may find one or more of these at a local fish store, or online.

Bloodworms whether frozen or fresh should not be fed more than once a week. I realize this is being eaten by the fish, but it is not nutritious nor healthy long-term, so it would be best to wean the loaches off this before it is too late. This actually applies to most worms.