Clown behavior updated - fighting and bleeding at mouth!

[tmcmullen]

It seems that all at once my loaches are acting strangely. Two of the Yoyo's were circling in one spot head to tail. I could see that one was the aggressor, so I assume he/she was displaying dominance or fighting over territory. After "dancing" with the one loach he then went after "yoyo", my original loach (okay, how many of us have a Yoyo loach named "Yoyo"? LOL!)

Clowns - one of my clowns has a large drooping belly and is acting aggressively towards the others. I've read enough forums to know she/he is most likely not pregnant, but her behavior is strange. When I come to the glass she comes to talk to me and if any other loaches try to join in on the conversation she runs them off. These loaches are 8 years old now. I thought they'd get along like family by now, I don't see this behavior much at all with them.

Lastly my poor old Willie. He's my Dojo/weather loach. I've had him 8 to 9 years. He is one of my first fish ever purchased and he's not looking so well. He was hanging out on the heater yesterday, and then he decided to hide in the little resin cottage in the tank and didn't come out for dinner - and I fed blood worms! He didn't budge and he hasn't been out all day. He didn't come out for feeding tonight either. I've had my water tested and it's fine. I think it's old age, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

P.S. Sorry this is so long!

Teri

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hi Teri,

How long is your tank? How many YoYos and how many Clowns are there?
Tell us a bit more about your tank. What are you water parameters? Any photos?

[tmcmullen]

The tank is a 55 gal 48 inch tank. I have 4 adult 8-year-old clowns and two babies. I have three very young yoyos. The water was recently tested for nitrates/nitrites/PH, etc and was perfect, nothing was high or low. I've had this tank set up for 7 1/2 years at my current address, and for about 1 to 2 years at our previous home. I don't have pictures here to send right now.

Since my post the dojo has come out to eat twice. Otherwise he stays in the little cottage hidden from sight. He looks fine, and he does like to hide out a lot during the day, but he is usually very anxious to eat, which is why after noticing he hadn't eaten for 2 days I was concerned.

Teri

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Well,

Your tank looks a bit small for 8 grown up Clown Loaches + others. You say nitrates/nitrites/pH are perfect but do not show us results. Look... I´m not saying you´re a noob or something like that but we must have maximum information as possible to try to figure out your problem.
What about your lights? Have you change any bulb recently?
Were there any changes in food?

[tmcmullen]

I have a total of 6 clowns, not 8. I understand the desire for additional details, but I don't have them. I took a water sample to the LPS and they tested everything and told me that everything looked great, nitrates, PH (7.0), etc. I'm not overly concerned, just curious. I think the fat clown is probably over eating. I'm watching her to see if anything else changes, but so far she just seems a little aggressive. She isn't harming the others, just shooing them away.

As for the yoyo's I was only curious what the circling behavior means.

The Dojo is old, but I couldn't find any information on how old they can get. I do know they are cool water fish, and since the others in my tank are warm water fish I will not be getting another weather loach, but this one has adapted very well to my 78 degree temp.

No, I haven't changed lights, but have had them on a little more often than I used to. I did buy new food. I bought Wardley's sinking pellets. The clowns and Yoyos eat it but the Dojo tends to stick with the flake food from the surface or the shrimp pellets.

I appreciate your time, and if you cannot entertain my questions due to lack of informatin I understand.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

I have a total of 6 clowns, not 8.

Sorry... the 8 years old looked like 8 clown loaches...

As for the yoyo's I was only curious what the circling behavior means.

Take a look on the photo bellow:


If what you saw is something similar to this, one circuling the other like a dispute, it´s a normal stuff.

[tmcmullen]

Yes, that is what they were doing. Thank you. Sorry for the delay, my kids have been sick and I've been extremely busy.

A change with the clowns - two are battling and they're two of my biggest and eldest. They started fighting at feeding time over a sinking wafer. The fighting continued for a long time - 15 minutes and their color turned gray. The fat clown and the biggest clown are the two fighting. The biggest one looked like it was more aggressive, but now it's mouth is bleeding. What can I do? I turned off the lights and moved some decorations around because I heard that this could help because it makes fish think they're in new territory, but I have to go back downstairs in a few minutes to see if it stopped the fighting or not. They keep locking mouths and shoving each other.

[tmcmullen]

Okay, checked again and now they seem to have settled down. The fat clown is in a new place and the biggest clown is in their usual hang out. Their color looks good, so I think they've stopped fighting. I'm keeping it dark and I'll check again in the morning.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Good luck!

[tmcmullen]

Thanks Marcos. I was really worried about them. I got up in the middle of the night and checked on them. At first I couldn't find them. They have always been under the large piece of driftwood, but not tonight. The two who were fighting were sandwiched together inside of a little cottage decoration I have in the tank. They look very peaceful and like they must be best friends now. The other clowns are all under the driftwood. So strange and different from the norm!

So, do you have any idea why they would fight so fiercely?

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hard to say, but probably pecking order. As you might know, there are diferent social classes between Loaches and sometimes they fight to ascend to a higher level. After classes are set, peace prevails.

[tmcmullen]

Interesting! Thanks for all of your help and advice.

[millsn]

Must sya that mine tend to fight over real estate. Do you need to add any hiding places?