So I picked up 5 zebra loach about 4 weeks ago - like the clown loaches (I have 4 clowns); they broke into two groups - a group of 1 and a group of 4 (the clowns are 3 and 1). The single zebra loach likes to hang out in the jungal val. For some reason the jungle val form a massive twist at the top and he hides in the middle of the twist (i keep untwisting it - and i swear he must be like a little beaver at night tying the leaves back together). Is this common behavior of loaches - where one will not hang out with the others - in the case of my clown he would stay vertical in a corner next to the sponge filter - he (or she) eats - if i drop a shrimp pellet in his corner he is quick to gobble it down. Unlike the clowns (which are quite young at around 1.5 to 2.5 inches long) the zebra are near or at adult size.
Zebra Loach
- Thread starter jake72
- Start date
Well, I had 6 striatas in a 75g. They divided themselves into 2 groups with 1 female & 2 males. They also lived with 9 or 10 sidthimunkis (dwarf chain loaches). They too were in 2 groups of a very fat female & 4 or 5 others (mostly males but maybe some less chubby females). Each of the 2 groups lived together under wood at either end of the tank. There was no fighting, they all came out a feeding time & danced at water changes.
I saw a single clown loach (in another tank) guard the "good" cave but not really much aggression. It was close in size to a couple others & sometimes a different 1 would be "cave boss" for a while.
Are all well fed & "healthy chubby"? I once had a skinny "vegetarian" clown that guarded anubias flowers & rarely ate regular food. I treated it for parasites & bacteria, to no avail. It eventually died.
Can you post pics? Do any have red lips? That's often a sign of a male. Females tend to be "taller" top to bottom & girthier; males more slender & often smaller overall.
I saw a single clown loach (in another tank) guard the "good" cave but not really much aggression. It was close in size to a couple others & sometimes a different 1 would be "cave boss" for a while.
Are all well fed & "healthy chubby"? I once had a skinny "vegetarian" clown that guarded anubias flowers & rarely ate regular food. I treated it for parasites & bacteria, to no avail. It eventually died.
Can you post pics? Do any have red lips? That's often a sign of a male. Females tend to be "taller" top to bottom & girthier; males more slender & often smaller overall.
The loan clown is fat; i have one clown that was purchased skinny but he seems to be putting on weight (spines less visible). I'll post a picture later today - the straitas that hides in the plants seems a little smaller than the others but i know they do a lot of eating at night. I picked up a few of those pesty snails on plants and they have been turning into shells much faster than I actually noticed the snails themselves.
Ok here is a picture of the plants - the loach is in the middle twirl but you probably won't be able to see him. I used a probe to sep a few of the leaves and he poked his nose out at me. It isn't obvious but those leaves on the jungle val - the longer ones are close to 30 to 40 inches long. my tank is 24 inches high and they can reach 1/3 of the way across the top.
He looks small but healthy, cute! Must just be 1 of those quirky loach things they do, that's part of why I love them.
I have "jungle" val too, it needs control, lol. I sometimes trim it off near the surface to keep it from blocking all the light. My old leaves get BBA so I try to remove those at times too.
I have "jungle" val too, it needs control, lol. I sometimes trim it off near the surface to keep it from blocking all the light. My old leaves get BBA so I try to remove those at times too.
Is it just the zebra that have males with red lips or also the clowns? I have noticed some red at the tip of a few of the zebras.
