My loaches are eating all my ornamental fish

[LoachOrgy]

well it started with a few cory's. now my clowns and striatas have devoured all of my ornamental fish but 4 left. they can't catch the glass fish yet. so the glass fish are still alive. so thats 7 total.

i had 8 rasboras
8 corys. had a few die from disease. but the clowns killed the rest of the cory's.

i caught two dead cory's in one of my clowns mouth.

had about 6 glo lite tetras get eaten

numerous other tetras of various varieties.

some of the cory's that were devoured completely were 2 plus inches in size. mind you that these cory's have been present the entire time ive had my loaches. so they grew up together.

for some reason. the clowns have been becoming super aggressive. they swim at the top of the tank and now they are just about brave enough to take the food out of my hand everytime. i get a huge display of loachy dancing now compared to years ago.

they seem to interact with me more. and are not fearful. they will come right up to me and dance everytime they see me.

i feed them well. at least protein a few times a week.

the only thing different that ive noticed when they started eating other fish is when i started using martin's fish loach recipe with the bannana and i used white fish instead of what was suggested as i did not have it.

i have not been starving the loaches at all. i give them a one day break on food once a week. and thats usually when i find the fish getting eaten. and ill notice 30 minutes later after i just saw the fish. that the fish is gone. i turn up everything in the tank to look for the fish and there is nothing left. not even remains, bones or anything.

is this an indication of something?

the loaches seem completely happy. more so than ever. i have 5 clowns and 7 striata. they are about due for an upgrade from this 55 gallon. other than that. the tank is super clean. i change it every day about 10 percent to keep the tds range at optimal readings. and i clean the tank probably more so than needed now.

had a bad stint of disease for the last couple of months. but resolved that. now the clowns just keep eating the healthy fish. but they don't eat the upside down cats yet.

ive got 3 upside down cats left 12 loaches and 4 ornamental fish left. plus the 3 glassfish.

any ideas? anyone have this happen?

i feed these guys cucumber, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, blood worms.

hell they will eat the fish even after a healthy feeding. so strange. im tempted to get rid of my 2 rasboras and my 2 glolites left and trade them for glass fish.

my total body count is nearing the twenties i believe. somewhere around there. i hadn't counted completely but its close to that.

some of these fish had lived with the loaches the entire time with no problems.

[starsplitter7]

Have you seen them attack and kill a fish? Or are they eating fish that are dead or dying? Maybe there's a problem in the tank killing the fish and the clowns are having a feast.

[OneWay]

Have you seen them attack and kill a fish? Or are they eating fish that are dead or dying? Maybe there's a problem in the tank killing the fish and the clowns are having a feast.

agreed, it could be they are scavenging the fresh meat

[LoachOrgy]

Have you seen them attack and kill a fish? Or are they eating fish that are dead or dying? Maybe there's a problem in the tank killing the fish and the clowns are having a feast.

yes 2 times. and the others keep disappearing.

i caught one of my bigger clowns with a cory in its mouth on two occasions.

all the fish killed were in great health.

usually if one is sick and dies. i find it in the bottom untouched. its strange. but normally if i see a fish appears sick. i put it in the qtank. all fish recently killed or disappeared have been in great health.

[Holdstrong]

How big are your loaches?

I'm wondering when I should star fearing for the safety of my corys, lol.

[starsplitter7]

I have Cories and Loaches together in several tanks and there are no problems, but maybe my loaches are too small. I have never had any problems.

[Mad Duff]

The only time I have had problems mixing cories and loaches was when I temporarily house my sterbai with my sidthimunki, all the sterbai lost their dorsal fins but nothing more than that.

I have Brochis in with my Clowns, Emperors, Histrionica, Kubotai and various Schistura and have never had a problem. I do think that the loaches could just be scavenging on the newly dead fish.

Loaches can chase or investigate their tank mates but I haven't seen Clowns or Striata actually kill fish, it could be that the disease problem that you have had could have weakened the fish and they have gotten a little stressed if the loaches have tried to get a little to friendly.

Sorry I cant be of more help

[starsplitter7]

Wow! That's really scary. I have my sterbai with my sidthimunki, and never realized their could be a problem. I am going to look in the tank right now and double check.

I think all my fish know they had better behave!

[Mad Duff]

Wow! That's really scary. I have my sterbai with my sidthimunki, and never realized their could be a problem. I am going to look in the tank right now and double check.

I think all my fish know they had better behave!

That is the only time I mixed them so it could have just been that group of sid's that had attitude, I dont want to say that everyone will have the same problem

[tender]

My sids are the most aggressive in one of my Loach tanks. They can be feisty little things. But because of they`re size the others seem to consider them more annoying, than a real threat.

[chefkeith]

If you think the Clown Loaches do this when you don't feed them, then maybe you should start feeding them everyday. I feed mine a few times every single day.

[FishyLady]

I wonder why the corys didn't defend themselves? they have spines on their back fins to spike predators.

Val

[Mad Duff]

I wonder why the corys didn't defend themselves? they have spines on their back fins to spike predators.

Val

The spines in the pectoral and dorsal fins only really come in to play when a predator would try to eat them or if they are caught in a net for instance, the sid's can be so fast that the cories wouldnt really know about it, saying that it didnt really stress them out as they started spawning in there

[LoachOrgy]

my biggest is about 5.5". and the rest are roughly 4" each. i have 7 striata. biggest is about 2".

they were fine for 4 years with my cory's. im not sure why all of the sudden they killed and ate all my cory's.

we are talking albino cory's 1.5" and emerald cory's 2" plus. rather large cory's.

once my last rash of death happened in the tank. i tossed out a few cory's. i replaced those cory's with smaller cory's. they were chomped within days of putting them in the tank. and one survived. he just died from an attack. i found him with all his fins ripped up and blood everywhere. one of the larger clowns that I caught attacking two other cory's i think is responsible. but im thinking once the bloods in the tank. the other loaches chow down too. im just surprised in the sudden change in behavior. its weird seeing no fish in the tank...

i witnessed the loaches kill two fish. so i know they are killing healthy fish.

i can now put my hand in the tank and the loaches come up to it. they were never this relaxed before. now they just try to hang out with me and convince me to feed them again lol..

[Mad Duff]

It is very strange activity for Clowns to show, I suppose there can be rogues among any fish species, maybe it would be worth just housing bigger fish with them, maybe large barb's or Danio's.