Loaches Online Forum

After a few requests, last night I took a short video clip of Marge & co at feeding time. It was one of their 'chopped prawn feast' evenings which is their favourite. The video starts off with some of the medium sized clowns, then Stripes comes out, then they all get scared by Marge's sudden appearance! You can see why larger clowns need a big tank because of the sheer bursts of speed they are capable of.
You'll have to try and ignore my reflection in parts of the clip and you might want to turn the sound down as the big glass coverslides being opened and shut makes a bit of a racket part way through.
Enjoy.......
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k183/ ... h=imgAnch1

Emma

Thanks for sharing that - I love how they scatter when Marge appears.

Laura

Da dun... da dun...dahdun dahdun dahdun dahdun...

She dwarfs the rest of them! Thanks for the video Emma

That was incredible! That really shows you how big Marge is. Very nice

EDIT: Where do you get prawns?

That's fantastic, Emma!!
I thought that Stripes was very impressive...and then Marge showed up.

Excellent!! Cheers for sharing the video, Emma.

Thank you all!
She doesn't realise just how many pairs of eyes around the world are watching her!

Barracuda518 - I just buy prawns at the supermarket - the kind you would buy for a prawn cocktail, except obviously without any additives. The larger clowns can take the smaller prawns whole, but the bigger sized prawns I chop up for them.

Emma

WOW

Marge is gorgeous, thanks for sharing Emma

My clowns love shrimp as well, I shred mine and freeze it into slabs. The clowns and hoplo's will actually take it straight from my hand .

Mark

Marge eats better than I do!!!

Fantastic! Great to see Marge in action. I had my husband watch so he'd understand the big tank need. He was impressed with Stripes & then ...Oh my goodness! Thanks, Emma.
Nancy

wow.

am I right in thinking that marge is the same sort of size and shape as a small duck?!

Heheh! You'll see on Friday!
Many people have likened her to a small carp in the past.

Emma

Thanks for sharing the video Emma. It was great watching all your loaches eating greedily and scatter so fast once Marge appeared. She is so huge! How long have you had her? I am amazed that clown loaches can get that big. I thought they can't grow that big in captivity. What else do you feed them to keep them happily growing?

Wonderful sight, and certainly brings home just how large clowns can get (in ALL dimensions!)

suya1 wrote:Thanks for sharing the video Emma. It was great watching all your loaches eating greedily and scatter so fast once Marge appeared. She is so huge! How long have you had her? I am amazed that clown loaches can get that big. I thought they can't grow that big in captivity. What else do you feed them to keep them happily growing?

Thank you!

I've had Marge and Stripes for just over a year now. They had been taken to a shop for re-homing by their old owner, and thanks to a tip-off, we promptly drove over and rescued them from where they were cowering behind a small lump of bogwood. Sadly, the old owner did not leave any details with the store, so I have no accurate information as to how old they are. However, I have other large clowns that are between 8 and 9" long which I've had since they were tiny, and are now 13-14 years old, which may give an indication. These fish have been kept in tanks at least 4ft+ from when they were young, small fish. Keeping them in tanks that are too small will stunt their growth quite considerably.
It is not just the food which makes them 'grow happily', although a good varied mix does help. Just as important is the size of the tank and the frequency of the water changes to ensure that they grow 'as nature intended'. But with regards to feeding, mine receive a mixture of dried, frozen and fresh foods. Their favourite dried food is JMC sinking catfish pellets, which I think are only available in the UK. They also receive Tetra Prima and other sinking pellet foods, including algae wafers. They really enjoy their frozen foods, and we tend to give them white mosquito larvae, spirulina-enriched brineshrimp, krill, chopped cockles etc. Then I buy fresh prawns and chop them up and add them to the mix. Many clowns will also enjoy eating fruits and vegetables such as cucumber, squash, melon, broccoli etc, but you must only leave items such as these in the tank for a short time, removing after a couple of hours if uneaten.

Emma