trapped or just hiding?

[longhorn]

I had a small clown loach in my 55g. For the last few days I noticed that every morning the clown loach seemed to be dissappearing from the tank. Then I found out he is in the castle decro. in my tank. However, I am not sure whether he is trapped or he is hiding intentionally.

The castle has a few very little windows, just about enough for the clown loach to squeeze in. It looks to me if I was accidentally get inside the castle I will be trapped and will never find a way out so I have been rescuing him out every morning to set him free. However, is it possible he is just hiding? How good are the loaches to find his way out from narrow opennings? Why he never try to get inside the castle during the day? :confused:

[ChilDawg]

I think that I read that clowns aren't active during the daytime. If I have construed correctly from your thread, your clown is kept solitarily. I know that clowns like to be kept in groups, so that may be why your loner has taken it upon himself to play in the castle. I wouldn't worry too much about that, but I would suggest adding more appropriately-sized hiding places in the near future.

[longhorn]

There used to be 3 clown loaches in the tank but 2 died last week. I will add some more soon. I guess my concern is he will be trapped inside the castle. In another word, are they pretty good at finding way out of their hiding places?

[Winnie]

I have been in exactly the same situation as you before, shaking caves and castles up at the water line, turning them over and seeing the little orange striped body trying to burrow its way further in....
They don't get stuck. They favor hidey holes that are barely big enough to fit into. It's possible if the first two died then he isn't healthy either, but I'd buy a couple more anyway.
My clown loaches now play all day and all night and have adopted the underside of a rocky cliff structure that I can see them in, rather than worrying about where they are all the time. After all, you buy an expensive fish, you want to actually see them!
Clown loaches are psychological nightmares; if you follow all the threads on this site, you'll realize they seem to cause fishkeepers more stress than any other fish! But they are worth the trouble, I think.

[Hootchieman]

I have a Skunk Loach that I only see every other day at meal time. I often wonder if he is stuck or rotting away somewhere. He has found a hiding place in a piece of driftwood. The driftwood was bought out of one of the LFS display tanks and the loach came along for the ride, much to the surprise of the customer. During a recent tank change, the only way I could get this fish out of the tank was to remove the driftwood, fish and all.:D

[longhorn]

you mean he stay in the driftwood without water for the hole trip?

[Skittyfish]

longhorn- I had a clown loach that got stuck in the little hole in my clay pot. I had to take pot and all out and gentle break it away from it. Crazy thing loved that clay pot.

[AntmanMike]

in my ol 10 gallon i had a rock cave on the back of the tank. TWO clown loaches stuck themselves right into a tiny gap between the rock and the glass... they were definately stuck. Then again, I had a pleco (odd one) that cut its lip on a rock. I removed the rock. The pleco died.

[superstein61]

While the hole in your castle may appear small, don't worry - your clown can find his way in - so he will find his way out.

Clowns love to squeeze into small places. In an old tank, I used to have a piece of fake driftwood. This was VERY SMALL. There was a hollow section on part of the bottom. Well, I would have 3 clowns and 2 yo-yo loaches all try and squeeze in there at once !!! If one wanted to get out, they would need to push those behind them out. The fish couldn't even turn around in there. but they loved it.

So I wouldn't worry - you are probably stressing your clown by "rescuing" him then letting him come out when he wants

[longhorn]

You are right. Last night I actaully saw him get in and later back out on his own. Kind of interesting to see him suddenly dissapeared into the castle.

[Hootchieman]

Longhorn,

Yes, I guess there was enough water in the bottom of the bag and during the trip, the little guy fell out of the driftwood into the water that had accumulated in the bag. The previous owners named him "Lucky".

[jeffstricklin]

I have 6 clown loaches that are all about 1" to 1 1/2" long. Early this evening, they were all happily swimming together. Then I went to dinner. When I got home, I could only find one of them. I searched all over. I finally found three of them piled on top of each other in a small dent in a rock (not even a cave--MAYBE you might be able to fit the tip of your thumb inside of it!). So, in my experience, these guys are great at finding every nook and cranny so hide themselves in when they sleep--they tuck themselves in at bedtime!

If you want to coax them out of their holes, I've found that they LOVE sinking shrimp-pellets. All of mine will drop whatever they are doing and race over to the pellets within seconds of it hitting the gravel!