clown loach swimming to the surface

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StacieA

AC Members
Jul 10, 2005
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I have a clown loach that keeps trying to swim to the surface but I can't tell if he's wanting oxygen or if he's just playing in the wave created by the filter?? None of the other fish are doing it but I've heard clown loaches can be 'indicator' fish? No physical indications of anything wrong. Could this just be typical playing around or is he stressing out?

In case I'm asked...
Ammonia/Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 5
pH = 7.0

Filters: Whisper Power Filter 40 and Penguin 200 Biowheel (I'm changing filters so I'm running both at the same time to avoid a cycle.)

I run C02 24/7 (midway up the latter) and an airwand after dark.
 
I would check ammonia again just in case because usually fish swim to the surface when ammonia levels get high because it robs the fish of O2. But... mine swim up there all the time and sometimes stick there noses out and do the infamous clicking noise... you think its loud in water.. wait until you hear it out! It was loud enough to wake me up and Im a sound sleeper!
 
Just checked it again with a different brand test and it's still 0. The only reason I worry about Cage (as in John Cage from Ally McBeal) is that his stripes seem to go pale easily, then he goes into the 'hidey hole' and when he comes out his stripes are dark again. Also, sometimes when he's swimming alone he goes pale but when Ally or Fish show up (the other two clowns) he goes dark again. He's such a drama queen!! lol

Think I'll turn lights off a little early tonight just to be on the safe side. :)
 
My experience with Clown Loaches is that they must among the weirdest-acting fish out there. My clown loaches used to act all funny and got me worried plenty of times, when essentially nothing was wrong at all.

Sometimes, they even drifted at the surface of the water, making me freak out in believing that they were dead. A few seconds later they would dive back down again and act "normal".
 
Thanks for the reassurances ya'll. I knew that they had some peculiar behaviors so I was prepared for laying on their sides and stuff.

Everybody's got nice black stripes tonight despite my newbie induced panic over the white slime on my new drift wood. lol
 
I have had mine for about 6 months now and they still do that color thing you speak of. I think its just a fact of clown loaches. they deffinetly are interesting fish. Mine recently took up a "new hobby" and digs holes! He grabs one piece of gravel at a time and moves it and starts out slow and than eventually goes crazy fast! Its real funny.
 
LOL! I think one of mine was trying to move a rock tonight. He swam up to a pebble nearly as big as him and it looked like he was trying to grab it with his fins. Sat there for a sec and then moved on. I just thought he was taking a rest from uprooting banana plants but maybe he was trying to rearrange??
 
mine likes to play tag, one would fallow the other and bump into him and the other one would turna around and chase eachother in circles, then just go to the corner and sleep next to eachother.
 
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