Loaches Online Forum

How long can a clown go without eating?

Ive got 2 - 8" wild caught loaches that Ive had for about 8 months and I swear I've never seen them eat.

They dont look like they are losing weight, but I just never see them eat a thing while all the others pig out.

I feed live earthworms, shrimp pellets, frozen shrimp, algae wafers, garlic flavored flakes and brine shrimp flakes. Also some zuchinni from time to time.

Hello Glostik,

I´m sure yours are eating while you´re not watching them. No fish can survive 8 months without feeding. My 8" Clown loach does not show up as much as smaller ones at feed time but still come to get his Bottomfish food.

Marcos

One of my wild caught clowns is a mainly a carnivore. You might want to try some uncooked fish, like raw cod or shrimp.

Maybe a whole raw smelt fish would entice the loach even more because they still have skin intact. I'll pick some smelt up for lunch and give it a try in a few hours, then tell you if they like it or not. I'll try to get a video too.

Well, the smelt didn't seem to draw out many of my larger clowns. I think the problem was that I just feed them about 3 hours ago.

The smaller clowns appreciated the smelt though. It's all gone now. It was only in there for 15 minutes and not even a trace of it is left in the tank. Even some Kuhli loaches were chomping on it.

Here's a short video of it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syWEKwrYwAE

Well one of my biguns is always out and about, the other is always hiding.

My clowns are almost always out during the day, during the night they hide to sleep.

Enjoyed the video, chefkeith. Your clowns look great in that tank. Are the kuhlis in that tank also?


EDIT: oops! Sorry, Glostik, I think I just hijacked your thread.

I think there are 4 or 5 black kuhli's in the river tank, but they stay in the calm areas in the island, so I rarely see them. It was nice to see a couple of them come out to eat the smelt..

The 5 Myer's Kuhli's are in the paludarium.