Clown loach diet advice

[virginia511]

my two clown loaches refuse to eat anything other than frozen or fresh foods like red mosquito larvae and brine shrimp. I have tried feeding them tetra min and tetra prima but they both do not eat it, even after a few days without mosquito larvae. will it be ok for them to continue eating only mosquito larvae twice a day?

[millsn]

I'm not going to profess to knowing the answer to this one but it might help others to know how old they are and to see a list of things you've tried to feed them as they will normally eat all sorts of things

[redshark1]

Two Clown Loaches is not enough for a shoal, but I am surprised they are not eating well even so.

I would firstly suggest paying close attention to the water quality, oxygenation and temperature as the factors most likely to cause loss of appetite, but you may well be on top of that.

Is the uneaten food being removed in order to prevent it spoiling the water?

Were they feeding well previously? Are they free of whitespot? How big are they? What size is the tank? What are the filtration stats? What do they do with the food - do they even investigate it? Will they take flaked or freeze dried forms of the foods they will eat? Are they hungry?

So many questions spring to mind that it would be helpful if you give a detailed account to follow up your initial inquiry.

Thanks - and good luck in the meantime.

[chefkeith]

I had a problematic clown loach like that for 5+ years. It wouldn't eat any commercial fish foods. Only ate whole foods, like bloodworms, snails, shrimp, clams, mussels, fresh or frozen fish. It would eat some fresh veggies, like cucumber or zucchini. I think it was also responsible for killing/eating my disappearing school of cardinal tetras.