Strange Dwarf Chain Loach

[Essjay]

I have 4 dwarf chain loaches (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki), got them last June. The smallest one has always been more active than the others, but in the last couple of months, it's been feeding at the surface! It started with frozen bloodworm, but now it's taking flake from the surface.

Is this abnormal, or do some individuals just behave like this?

 

[Colin_T]

It is just a bit smarter and braver than the others in the tank. Many fish eventually learn to take food from the surface and shrimp do it too. The shrimp are quite funny to watch because they swim upside down under the surface poking their claws through the meniscus grabbing bits of food.

 

[mikev]

It is just a bit smarter and braver than the others in the tank. Many fish eventually learn to take food from the surface and shrimp do it too. The shrimp are quite funny to watch because they swim upside down under the surface poking their claws through the meniscus grabbing bits of food.

Some fish does this too.

Confuzona's would swim upside down when fed with dried bloodworms...,this is the only way to get the food...their mouths face down.
I've had Hara's lying upside down on leaves near the surface waiting for food to float by (Hara's are *very* lazy).


As for loach topfeeding, this is perfectly normal, but as Colin said, it depends on the fish: some are more likely to do this than others.

 

[Saedcantas]

Other way around for me, three of my four Y. sidthimunki give the danios a good fight for the food at the surface while the last one hangs back all the time and needs extra special attention

 

[Essjay]

I think the one is just a loner! The 3 big ones are always together - lying on top of each other, swimming round together in the bottom half of the tank, feeding together. The small one is always by itself, swims in all levels, feeds mainly at the bottom but comes to the top when the food is first put in. Would the size have anything to do with it? When I got them, this one was slightly smaller, but it's hardly grown, while the other 3 have.
It's also only got one eye! Didn't notice in the bag in the shop, but after I got it in the tank, it took a lot of studying with a magnifying glass to make sure. Would this affect it's behaviour?