Post
by vealboy » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:54 pm
Thought I would bump this thread with an update on the increasing Clown Loach aggression toward tankmates.
Since my last post in this thread, there have been a few changes, I added 5 small fish to the community tank, 3 different types of cichlids that were no more than an inch each and a pair of Ameca Splendens that were about 2.5" each, one male and one female. This was in mid July.
They all seemed to be living peacefully...for a few days. I noticed that the Ameca Spendens lasted only a week before they completely disappeared. No bodies, no proof that I ever had them.
Things settled down, and there were no missing fish until about three days ago. On my way to work one morning, I noticed one of the tiny cichlids chomping on a decimated Red Eye Tetra body. The cichlid was smaller than the Tetra, so I don't think that it was responsible for the kill, but was just scavaging what the Clowns did not eat. When I got home that day, there were no remains. Just to be sure I removed the tank decor and vacuumed the gravel and did a 20% WC. No corpses.
The next morning I woke to find 4 more Red Eye Tetra laying on the substrate with missing eyes. The dead females who had large bellies laden with eggs had their bellies torn out. Kinda gruesome. I removed the corpses to mitigate ammonia from their decay and did a 50% WC.
I did notice other Red Eye Tetras did have messed up eyes, and some chomped fins. Today I observed one of the small clowns attacking one of the Tetra, the last female. I observed the same clown antagonizing the three immature cichlids too. A few hours later, I observed the clown chomping the belly out of the Tetra, so I removed the corpse.
I am concerned that the Clowns will continue to hunt the remaining fish in the tank until they are alone with the Pleco. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can curb their aggression?
