Clown Loaches Disappeared

drdud said:

Ok. Maybe I am crazy, but I bought two clown loaches yesterday. Now, I can not find either of them. I have pool sand and wonder if they burrow.

I asked the guy at the LFS if he had someone that enjoyed eating snails, as I have quickly become overrun with trumpet snails (did not know they were livebearers). He said the clown loaches would be OK with my tiger barbs and may help control the snails. (I know. If I did not over feed, I would not have established such as perfect environment to support 100's of snails. I will try to fix that.)

For now, I am just trying to find the fish. Any thoughts?

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Any decorations you have in the tank which have small openings or crevaces? They are quite talented when it comes to fitting through a seemingly impossible small hole... I learned that the first night I had clown loaches a couple years back. I spent 2 hours rescuing them from the tree branch decoration they swam into and seemed to be lodged in. It would help to know what size the tank is, what the water params are, other inhabitants, (any and all) and even your water change schedule could be helpful. Just a friendly reminder, clown loaches grow to be 12-16" in length, and really do need a group of 4-5 minimum to be comfortable and 'happy' in their new home. An excellent way to rid your tank of snails is to place a slice of cucumber or zucchini in the tank for 3-4 hours, let the snails find it, and when they begin grazing on it, simply dispose of the slice. You can repeat this often and it really won't cost you much. (just be careful not to leave the slice in the tank and forget about it... it can and will begin to rot, which will foul up the water and promote a larger snail population)

gatotsu77 said:

Any decorations you have in the tank which have small openings or crevaces? They are quite talented when it comes to fitting through a seemingly impossible small hole... I learned that the first night I had clown loaches a couple years back. I spent 2 hours rescuing them from the tree branch decoration they swam into and seemed to be lodged in. It would help to know what size the tank is, what the water params are, other inhabitants, (any and all) and even your water change schedule could be helpful. Just a friendly reminder, clown loaches grow to be 12-16" in length, and really do need a group of 4-5 minimum to be comfortable and 'happy' in their new home. An excellent way to rid your tank of snails is to place a slice of cucumber or zucchini in the tank for 3-4 hours, let the snails find it, and when they begin grazing on it, simply dispose of the slice. You can repeat this often and it really won't cost you much. (just be careful not to leave the slice in the tank and forget about it... it can and will begin to rot, which will foul up the water and promote a larger snail population)

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mine never learnt and kept going in a stupid place but somehow get out every now and then.

:iagree: with gatotsu!

Well written gatotsu77 8)

They are in there and are probably fine. They will hide in the smallest of spaces and will appear when more comfortable in their environment.

If you have an HOB filter check inside it as well.
I have a very large piece of driftwood which has the capacity to hide at least a half dozen shy fish, including clown loaches. I can always see tails or dorsal fins sticking out of various openings. I just leave them alone and have never had a death from their getting caught. I often wonder whether tales of fish getting caught and dying weren't actually cases where a dying fish found a place to hide and then simply died. They can appear caught because when one tries to "rescue" them they extend the spines on their fins and resist efforts to remove them from their safe place. When that happens I feel like I might do more damage by attempting to remove them than by letting them cope by themselves. ???
Beasts

I have seen quite a few Clown Loaches in captivity that have exceeded 10". Whoever told you that it is rare to see them larger than 6" in captivity was incorrect. If you are going to continue keeping them at least visit www.loaches.com to read up from people that are dedicated to the species.

drdud said:

Thanks for the replys. I have 5 granite rocks as decorations. I can see one in a crevice that I would have never believed they could get into. Absolutely amazing. I did see both this morning, so they were both fine. I plan on increasing the number to about 4. I read that their max size in the wild is 12-16 inches and captive it is rare to see them larger then 6". I believe that they would be fine for a while in the 29 gal before moving up to the 55 gal. They have made a noticable dent in the snail population.

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whoever wrote that was dead wrong. i have seen TONS on huge clown loaches in person, and know quite a few people who have 12 inchers.