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Changing tank configuration- Drawing out the clowns

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:15 pm
by natnat
I recently posted on this forum re my 135 gallon. I will not go through the whole story again but the bottom line is that I have 12 clown loaches ranging from 2-4 inch 4 severums and 2 parrots. Last week I purchased another tank and, once its cycled I am planning to move the SA cichild and the parrots to the new tank.
The problem is that once I do that my tank may look desertedjavascript:emoticon(':?')... The clowns have been with me for about a month now, although they have settled nicely they hide most of the day among the many plants and driftwood, basically, I don’t see enough of them... therefore I want to introduce some schooling fishes to try and draw the clowns out and I was thinking of 2 possibilities; The first are the Silver dollars which seem to be a popular combo with clowns and the second is, more unusual, a school of torpedo barbs.

Any suggestions or ideas

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:27 pm
by glenna
I have rainbows (turquoise and Boesmanii) along with 5 roseline barbs in with my seven clowns in a 125 G tank and they are a very effective, yet peaceful group of dithers for my clowns. The clowns are very comfortable -out and about, laying on top of each other, and against the front glass.
I think you might be lacking the "peaceful" part as the silver dollars become more mature!
clint has a very nice tank set up with pics on this forum. check it out!

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:11 pm
by namal
I have managed to find some of the biggest cowards in the clown loach world. I never get to see them. If the light is on they will not even come out to feed. They used to be active when they were smaller. They have a huge tank (10 feet long) and plenty of hiding places. So i also got my self some torpedo bards, among others to act as dither fish and convince my clowns its safe. Unfortunately the clowns managed to convince the bards that it's not safe and now everyone hides among the plants or drift wood. :evil: :evil: :evil:

Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:58 am
by andyroo
Namal,
Try something that's ridiculously/irrepressibly friendly/interactive like a couple of angels or danios. That and stop wearing the wearwolf mask when you feed them.
Option #2, carry a camera when you come to the tank. For the rest of us the camera makes them scatter- you may be in luck and have an opposite-tank.

Please excuse this cheeky post... i'm back on caffein.
A

Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:54 pm
by Ardillakilla
Turn the lights off. In the few pictures I've seen of their natural habitat, the water is pretty murky. Mine are out quite often, especially in the mornings and evenings or if they're hungry.

Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:36 pm
by natnat
Oh manal this is terrible, you must have a real charismatic clown to convince the torpedo’s to hide. In the meanwhile i got both torpedos (7) and rainbows (9) as Glenna suggested, they are in quarantine . in two weeks I will be moving the severums and red parrot to a separate tank and introduce the rainbows and torpedo to the loaches, 3 different schools, wish me luck

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:12 pm
by djoneser
Have to agree with Ardilla on this, turn off your lights. Maybe even consider changing whatever lighting system you are using to something softer.

My clowns dont like the lights, but will come out with lights on for a regular feeding in the afternoon. However their morning feeding the sun has not really come up much yet (@7am or so) and the tank light are off and the clowns are not just out, but nearly on my hand as i drop food into the tank.