Alien Anna
Fish Gatherer
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Messages
- 2,087
- Reaction score
- 2
Hi,
since I bought my three chain loaches (pygmy "chain" botias) the other day and released them into my tank, I have only seen two. This morning I could only see one.
Later on today I sorted out my tank (I had to re-position my column filter) and I was worried about a hole in the side of the filter through which a fish could swim. As I feared, there was a loach stuck in the filter. I had to take the whole caboodle out (it's a Juwel column filter with powerhead and heater in one - the size of an appartment block). In the end I had to empty it out and up-end the filter to get the fish out. He swam away into the tank and was apparently unharmed. I've blocked off the hole.
I then took out all of my bogwood and put it in a bucket (dry) and was making my tank secure when I noticed another loach stuck in the middle of my Java fern (I could see his partner swimming about the tank still. I panicked and put the bogwood back in the tank. Before he went back in the water he was very still but I could see his gills moving. I'm terrified I suffocated him, but there is no body. How long can a fish survive out of water? What if there was another loach in another plant and I've suffocated that one?
Since I replaced everything in the tank and blocked off all the holes I've only seen one loach. I put in some shrimp pellets to coax them out but he was the only one to appear. He's still swimming about now and looks fine, albeit somewhat lonely.
I'm now thinking that maybe there was another loach in the filter, trapped in the powerhead, or maybe I crushed one when I replaced the filter or the bogwood? Or maybe I suffocated them when I took the wood out of the water? How can I ever know? I should have checked that my filter was suitable for pygmy chain loaches - they are very small and very skinny.
since I bought my three chain loaches (pygmy "chain" botias) the other day and released them into my tank, I have only seen two. This morning I could only see one.
Later on today I sorted out my tank (I had to re-position my column filter) and I was worried about a hole in the side of the filter through which a fish could swim. As I feared, there was a loach stuck in the filter. I had to take the whole caboodle out (it's a Juwel column filter with powerhead and heater in one - the size of an appartment block). In the end I had to empty it out and up-end the filter to get the fish out. He swam away into the tank and was apparently unharmed. I've blocked off the hole.
I then took out all of my bogwood and put it in a bucket (dry) and was making my tank secure when I noticed another loach stuck in the middle of my Java fern (I could see his partner swimming about the tank still. I panicked and put the bogwood back in the tank. Before he went back in the water he was very still but I could see his gills moving. I'm terrified I suffocated him, but there is no body. How long can a fish survive out of water? What if there was another loach in another plant and I've suffocated that one?
Since I replaced everything in the tank and blocked off all the holes I've only seen one loach. I put in some shrimp pellets to coax them out but he was the only one to appear. He's still swimming about now and looks fine, albeit somewhat lonely.
I'm now thinking that maybe there was another loach in the filter, trapped in the powerhead, or maybe I crushed one when I replaced the filter or the bogwood? Or maybe I suffocated them when I took the wood out of the water? How can I ever know? I should have checked that my filter was suitable for pygmy chain loaches - they are very small and very skinny.
What juwel tank do you have? I have a rekord 180 and there's no hole in the filter column in mine. The only hole is where the filter outlet comes out of the column. My fry regularly hide in the column until they're big enough not to be eaten and then they venture out. They also hide behind the column knowing that the bigger fish can't get to them. They can't get to the impeller on the pump coz the floss is in the way, so as far as I know, I haven't lost any fish there - well, no big ones anyway.
