Weather Loach - Attacking Goldies

[timmystood]

Heya Guys
I do believe this is my first topic in the loach section.. so HI!

Anyway, just a quick question - could belong here and/or the coldwater section but seeing as this is a loach related issue I guess here is better.
Basically, I have a massive weather and 3 golden weather loaches with my 4 fancy goldfish. Originally it was just the weather loach until he started 'hanging' onto the goldfish. I thought it was maybe because they are shoaling creatures so I added 3 golden weather loaches (slight smaller). However, i've noticed he still does it.

He kinda sucks onto the rear end of the fancies. It's not that common, i've noticed it like twice in the last 2 weeks but both times the goldfish have seemed really stressed because of it and just wandered what could be the problem?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[karuna]

This is purely conjecture so you might want to take it with a pinch of salt as I'm not a qualified fish biologist by any-means but if I remember correctly fish have a protective membrane between the outside water environment and their scales. The loaches are omnivorous beings so it may be that the Loach is trying to feed upon this membrane, which, if that is the case, may be cause for concern.

I kept a loach many years ago with one of the smaller carp varieties, ~4-5 inches, (not entirely sure on the species but it was not of a goldfish variety) and it survived with the loach for over 5 years even though the loach would behave as you are describing, but on the other hand, after the loach had been solitary for some time I introduced some white clouds and there was similar behaviour to what you are describing which resulted in the death of a white cloud (or at least that is what I suspected was the cause of death) and the subsequent removal of the remaining WCMMs to be on the safe-side.

If this is the case then you will have to make a call with regard to their well-being as even in the event of it not being immediately life threatening to the goldfish, will the resulting stress prove too much for them to bear? It may be that with the irregularity of the incidents and the fact that there are three targets for the loach to spread the attacks on that they will handle it well.

As I say at the start I have no factual proof of this or source to reference in my defense but I suspect this is what was happening in my experience. Unfortunately I can't really say either way whether this will require some intervention from you but it might be something to consider and to look into. Perhaps it could be solved with something as simple as to introduce some live food on a regular basis to provide the loach with stimulation as well as an alternative carnivorous source of food.

All the best and keep us updated =)