I've not noticed clown loaches eating plants but festum do
As for aponogeton; like fishes a genus does not define the requirements and specific species do have different requirements.Some pictures
- Thread starter jake72
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As for aponogeton; like fishes a genus does not define the requirements and specific species do have different requirements.Clown loaches were my most "veggie-rific" fish I think I've ever kept 
Beyond barbs or plecos nibblng a few. I always felt those last fish would have preferred algae straight up!
Have you offered your clowns zucchini with a food pellet they like stuck in it? Whee! Mine caught onto that fun food pretty fast! I think sometimes our fish eat out of boredom; I'm pretty sure my clowns liked punching holes in romaine, swords or crypts whether they actually ate them or not.
Have you seen the goldfish soccer games, etc. videos? Our fish can get bored when they don't have to work hard for food.
I don't remember festivum eating plants but that may have been before we knew some fish liked veggies...live & learn. We just didn't know back then...we do now!
Beyond barbs or plecos nibblng a few. I always felt those last fish would have preferred algae straight up!Have you offered your clowns zucchini with a food pellet they like stuck in it? Whee! Mine caught onto that fun food pretty fast! I think sometimes our fish eat out of boredom; I'm pretty sure my clowns liked punching holes in romaine, swords or crypts whether they actually ate them or not.
Have you seen the goldfish soccer games, etc. videos? Our fish can get bored when they don't have to work hard for food.
I don't remember festivum eating plants but that may have been before we knew some fish liked veggies...live & learn. We just didn't know back then...we do now!
I put zuc in for the pleco; the clowns will sniff around the edges but they don't seem to eat much of it. I also put in some soilent green mixed with igloo exploreer; they seem to eat more of that (it is about 3/4 soilent green and 1/4 igaloo explorer).
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My largest clown i've only had for 4 years now (2 of them that survived along with 7 new ones). In late april/early may i'll spend all day catching them to put in their new aquarium (550). One of the new ones is broken as in is not growing at all after 8 months. It isn't skinny (spines don't show on the side) just isn't growing. I've got to stop buying from aquahuna - the ones from wetspot are doing fantastic and have added 2 inches in the same amount of time.
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My largest clown i've only had for 4 years now (2 of them that survived along with 7 new ones). In late april/early may i'll spend all day catching them to put in their new aquarium (550). One of the new ones is broken as in is not growing at all after 8 months. It isn't skinny (spines don't show on the side) just isn't growing. I've got to stop buying from aquahuna - the ones from wetspot are doing fantastic and have added 2 inches in the same amount of time.
I've heard of clowns that just don't grow well. I think they're low on the group hierarchy. Less food, less growth, but maybe there's more to it? I've had slower growers but not any that didn't grow a little bit. It may be hard to compare no growth to slower growth. There may need to be a runt...low man on the totem pole?
I was of the mindset of acting like all loaches may have internal parasites & treating them in QT....after a couple lesser attempts with clowns. It seemed to work until I had a weird clown that would just not eat normally. It seemed focused on anubias flowers & guarded them to the point of not eating...anything else. I put it in QT & treated for pretty much everything to no avail. I finally had to euthanise the poor fish.
I don't think your 1 "not growing" is too terrible, yet. You said it doesn't look emaciated...maybe it just smaller or slow growing...someone has to be most little...
I was of the mindset of acting like all loaches may have internal parasites & treating them in QT....after a couple lesser attempts with clowns. It seemed to work until I had a weird clown that would just not eat normally. It seemed focused on anubias flowers & guarded them to the point of not eating...anything else. I put it in QT & treated for pretty much everything to no avail. I finally had to euthanise the poor fish.
I don't think your 1 "not growing" is too terrible, yet. You said it doesn't look emaciated...maybe it just smaller or slow growing...someone has to be most little...
This one has a lot of red around the gill area; it came that way so i think maybe it was damaged somehow by the vendor but maybe not.
Did you ever treat your clowns for internal parasites? Fish can carry a load that doesn't kill but might stunt them. Red gills can be nothing, or a bad sign. Is it the only 1 with red gills? Maybe an early ammonia burn before you got it? That damage can be permanent sometimes...I hope not for you loach. Hard to say, but at least it's not getting skinny.
My guess is early ammonia burn; i've not treated them for parasite but i have no indication that they have parasite and i purchase mostly from well trusted stores like wetspot that does qt and treat fishes before selling them.
I know you wont' find this answer satisfactory but here is the thing to consider: I've had that loach with my other 9 loachs now for 9 full months so if it has parasite they all have parasite (which i do not believe is hte case); all the loaches are growing as i would expect (even the ones who recovered from the disease issue i had) and they are active during the night and the youngsters during part of the day - that is the only loach with red around the gills and not growing.
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