Loaches Online Forum

Has anyone ever lost clowns in the tank for a week. I four clowns they are 6+ inches and 2 of them hasn't came out for 6 days. I am not at home. But my wife has looked all around the aquarium. In the overflows ,filters everywhere she can. The 2 are missing. There are spots she can't see. Could they be coming out at night only? I will be home Wed.
I haven't even seen them yet thanks jerry

I'm by no means an authority on the subject, but every time my clowns behavior changes drastically it has meant there was something wrong. If possible it might be a good idea to ask your wife to move some stuff around and she if she can flush them out a get a look at them. If not, maybe ask her to start dosing the tank with Maracyn 1/2 as a preventative until you can get there.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

Hi Jerry,
Whilst it can be a bit worrying not seeing your new Clowns out and about, it doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. On the whole, the bigger ones tend to be much more secretive and hide away quite a lot. A good example is Marge, our 11.5" Clown. After introducing her to our existing shoal, it was 7 weeks (yes 7!!!) before she ventured out from behind a giant piece of bogwood and starting feeding and intergrating with the others. After this time, her confidence started to grow day-by-day, and now she is boss of the tank. It may be that yours are still settling in to their new home, and don't feel confident enough to venture out. Also, you haven't got very many of them yet (I know you plan to add more) so the fact that there isn't a big shoal of them might not be helping either. Do you have the ability to dim the lighting on the tank or use blue moon tubes? It would be worth trying this as they very much appreciate lower lighting levels (particularly the bigger specimens). It might be worth staying up late and observing for an hour or so after lights out - you may be pleasantly surprised to see a few 'stripes' moving about.
Hope everything turns out to be ok.

Emma

I have the lights that has two lights and switches per light. One bulb is yellow light and the other is the blue light. I had my wife to turn the yellow light off. She said she was going to get up in the middle of the night to see if she could see them. When I got them they all looked very good. My wife said two of them are probably 6 i/2 to 7 inches. These are the ones that are not coming out. the smaller ones are coming out. When I get home if I have to climb in the tank to see , I will.
Hopefully every thing is well. I will post when I find something out.
thanks

the best way to get clowns out and excited is some major major water changes. they love clean water and they love lots of current. so if you make this change, you'll see them out.

on the other hand, large putrifying clown loaches have the most revolting stench in the universe. the amount of poison their decomposing bodies would create in your tank will first make the rest of the fish sick and then kill them as well. truly revolting mushy bodied dead loach.....they are greasy. have you ever had a dog that liked to roll around on top of long dead squished up ground hogs or porcupines or raccoons? well, if you have, or if anyone has, then they'll never forget that stenchy grease the dog gets coated in.

similar but loach is much worse.

EEEEEeeewwwWWW! I know the smell, my labrador brings it home now and then, when she gets out to go bitchin...totally disgusting!

No smelling yet I am a country boy and have smelled my dogs that has rolled in roadkill or what ever. It's not nice

I bet they are just hiding out...

when I first got my tank several years ago... I had heart failure on a regular basis...

let us know the outcome...

best wishes

BB have you ever went to Amazonia pet shop in austin? They had two really nice large clowns in there new shop. But wouldn't sell them. If you get a chance check them out.
take care jerry

Yes! and here's the really sad story about their clowns... they had a tank full of really nice plump clowns... they kept the tank up very nicely... then sometime during the fall... they cleaned the tank and no one noticed that the pumps did not turn on... or were not turned on... over night... and they lost a the majority of the fish...

that's a really cool place to shop... are you from Austin too?

Sorry to hear about the clown. I am from dallas, but I own a company that sets up retail stores. So I am through there all the time. I check out loaches everywhere. Austin is cool