Clown Loaches Boycotting New Cave

Nick Park

I had a little group of 6 clown loaches all between 2"-3.5". I've been keeping them in a little 60 litre tank, but plan to upgrade them shortly to a 200 litre. Since I bought them at 1" they've all used a tacky little castle ornament as their cave, coming out early in the morning and hiding away again early evening. The castle isn't that big, so they had to squash themselves in like sardines.

A week ago the largest and fattest of the group, who had reached 3.5", died at the entrance to the castle. It was a fairly tight squeeze to get in, and I was worried that it had got stuck. So i decided to get rid of the castle and get the 5 remaining loaches a bigger hiding place. So I got 2 new ornaments, each with bigger entrances and much more room inside.

The problem is that they steadfastly refuse to go in the new caves. If they want to hide they squeeze in behind an ornament and the back of the tank, but spend most of their time swimming in the open.

I know that a lot of clown loach owners complain of the opposite problem - that they never get to see them! And I do love watching these fish doing their tumbling round in circles stuff. But I'm just worried that they're going to be stressed at being out in the open so much. They are feeding on bloodworms OK, so am I worrying unnecessarily? Their coloration is good.

Water quality has not changed. 28 degrees, zero ammonia or nitrites, high pH due to living in a hard water area. Low nitrates due to pothos plants growing out of the top of the tank. Tank is over-filtered (interior filter and a Fluval 106 canister) with a spray bar, air stone and a wave-maker providing plenty of oxygenation and water flow. 25% water changes twice a week.

Klinkhammer

I wouldn't be too worried about them not entering the new caves yet. They can be quite cautious and will probably start using them sooner or later.

How do the barbels look on them? The reason I ask is that the gravel looks quite sharp and can lead to erosion which may explain the dead fish.

damon5

Klinkhammer wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about them not entering the new caves yet. They can be quite cautious and will probably start using them sooner or later.

How do the barbels look on them? The reason I ask is that the gravel looks quite sharp and can lead to erosion which may explain the dead fish.

Good call on the gravel if its sharp,presently have my clowns on a sand base substrate and a few years before had some on dorset pea gravel that has a rounded edge,they would pick up indevidual peices of pea gravel and move it by mouth to look for food ...

Nick Park

Klinkhammer wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about them not entering the new caves yet. They can be quite cautious and will probably start using them sooner or later.

How do the barbels look on them? The reason I ask is that the gravel looks quite sharp and can lead to erosion which may explain the dead fish.

Thanks for the tip. I replaced the gravel today with a different variety that is made up of slightly larger rounded stones.