Feeding my Clown Loaches

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Drekkyk

AC Members
Feb 3, 2006
116
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Westland, MI
I'm a little worried about these guys. When I feed, my Tigers grab up everything. The larger loach is acutually starting to go after the barbs because he is having trouble getting to the food in time.

Twice a week I put in two algea wafers. Once the Barbs find them, they swarm all over them. The larger loach gets his fill, but he constantly chases away the Barbs. The 2 smaller loaches simply look for scraps, but the Barbs look for them too as soon as they have cleared the water surface. Any suggestions?
 

budrecki

Trust me, it's for your own good.
Dec 17, 2005
751
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Orlando,FL
I have 7 clowns loaches, and my first advise would be get more! As my group has grown (3,5,now 7) the behavior of the loaches had changed dramatically.

As you probably know they are very tactile, it constant contact with each other. Have you seen the loach pile yet, when the lay on top of each other? Mine have adopted the 16 pleco as one of their own and love to loach pile him! Very funny.

As for feeding, twice a week doesn't cut it. They need to eat every day and they need protein. Hikari makes a sinking wafer that mine seem to prefer over the algae wafers, although the protein content is the same in both. I also feed shrimp pellets, which they love and often click for. (have you heard the clicking yet?) They get fresh veggies 3-4 times a week, peas, zucchini, and spinach. Oh, and blood worms, frozen or dry.

Feed the tiger barbs flake, wait 5 minutes, feed them again, wait 5, then toss in the sinking food. Do this right before lights out. I have rosy barbs and have the same pig-fish issues and this seems to work.

Good luck.
 

Drekkyk

AC Members
Feb 3, 2006
116
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Westland, MI
The loaches may pile in their cave, but I havn't seen it. The one that does get ahold of the algea wafer clicks really loud, kinda caught me off guard. I'm not sure how many more I can add to my tank to maintain appropriate stocking levels, but if I can I will be adding more Clowns.
 

chefkeith

Loach Inspector
Aug 17, 2003
674
0
16
Detroit
Almost everyday I make sure each of my clowns gets a piece of a wafer. My clowns usually grab a piece of wafer then head for shelter so that they don't get bothered while they eat. I use several kinds of wafers- Hikari Algae wafers, Hikari Sinking Wafers, New Life Spectrum H2O Stable Wafer, and Omega One Veggie Rounds.

All my fish get Tetra Min Pro Tropical Crisps fish food daily.

I also feed the clowns ramshorn snails about 1x per week. I have a few 10g snail tanks for raising and breeding snails.

bloodworms are ok. Clowns love them, but I am very allergic to them, so I don't get them very often any more.
 

RanchuRick

Go Flames Go
Feb 19, 2005
160
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I use Hikari sinking wafer as well. They are smaller than Hikari algae wafer. You can throw a few in the tank at a time so that all loaches get their share. My five clown loaches really like the wafer. They don't pay much attention to the flakes at all.
 

naps

AC Members
Jan 1, 2006
344
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47
Houston, TX
I love the clown loaches too, I'm getting 3 more when my 80 is cycled.
What you could do is use a piece of pvc pipe or non used turkey baster and use it as a tube to shoot the food to the bottom of the tank. I've seen this done before with frozen food, as it melts it just starts sinking to the bottom and the loaches can grab it.
 
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