Death Fight

[geaston]

I am not sure any body else has had this happen , my 80 gallon tank is in front of my desk at work on Tuesday I did a 25% water change. My clowns were out and doing their usual up and down dance in the current no problems,.Yesterday afternoon I noticed my Alpha with barbs out and greyed out doing the circle with 2 of my other clowns, the Alpha is a fine 5 inch speciman and very deep. When i left at 6.00 pm last night he was still greyed out and chasing both the other fish one of which was a good 4 inch the other about the same but deeper in the body.

Well this morning I came in and found the larger of the 2 dead with barbs extended and ondeeye missing and the other guy in just as bad shape in one the plastic pipes and the Alpha was sitting over the top of the pipe barbs fully extended and greyed out.
I moved the other fish and the Alpha is know back to normal but the whole group is together under one log. The Alpha will swim out do a circle almost as if he is protecting the herd.

I just though I would share my observations.

Graham.

[chefkeith]

Sorry to hear it. I've seen clown loaches get pretty beaten up in spats, but this is the 1st time I ever heard of a fight to the death.

It makes me wonder if there is a small problem with the tank or the water. Low oxygen in the water, or something like. Or another thing, maybe there is not enough shelter for the loaches. If one of my clowns loses a battle, they can easily swim away or hide.

[Dutch]

Are you sure it's a clown loach and not a shark?

If it's low oxygen I would expect the alpha to defend the spot where the water comes into the tank from the filter. I've even seen zebrafish fight over such a spot in a badly maintained tank.

Maybe you can post a picture of your tank? That might give a clue as to what the problem might be. Shelter, stocking density, etc.
Could also just be an aggressive clown. Fish have personalities too.

[Emma Turner]

Sorry to hear about your loss. The only time I have seen the suborbital spines deployed and held out for a prolonged period of time is either when they are stuck (one of my large specimens has trouble putting his left one down after raising it, and it can take some time for him to get it back down) or if the fish are in severe distress from the conditions they are in. Many botiid species on the brink of death will erect the spines when they are highly distressed and 'near the end'. Are all the water parameters ok in the tank (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, pH)? Could you tell us more about the set-up, filtration, water movement, maintenance regime, hiding places etc.

Emma

[geaston]

Sorry to hear it. I've seen clown loaches get pretty beaten up in spats, but this is the 1st time I ever heard of a fight to the death.

It makes me wonder if there is a small problem with the tank or the water. Low oxygen in the water, or something like. Or another thing, maybe there is not enough shelter for the loaches. If one of my clowns loses a battle, they can easily swim away or hide.

The group have been together for about 2 years in total> I have 3 structures for hiding 2 are 1 foot 4 inch curved pipe one is behind rocks the other is under a pile of drift wood. The centre structure is a very large resin type artificial log.

Water temp stays at 79 to 80 degree's. The main Filtration is a Fluval FX5 then I have a whisper 30 60 as a emerency back up running air is supplied by a tectratech deep . my forced current is 2 aqua clear 70 with one coming across the side of the tank and the other at a angle which gives a circuler flow.

Today the group are back to the usual dance up and down and then darting into the flow of water then just drifting back its something I have observeda 100 times and still get a kick out of it. The Alpha is back to normal and leading the mad dash into the current.

The only change I made when I did the water change was to place new outer sponges on the Fluvall FX 5 . THE PH EMMA is 6.8 and the nitrite 0 the nitrate reading this morning was between the o and 20. gh was about the 30 to 60 range . When I change the media in the fluvall it is automaticly a 3 to 4 gallon water change, but I average 10 to 15 gallons weeekly. The 2 pair of Australian rainbows have even spawned in the tank