Loaches Online Forum

I have three clown loaches. Two males and a female. I have had them since 1990. They are about 6 inches in size. The tank is a community tank. Today one male and the female clown loach turned grey or at least not showing much color. The other male stayed the normal orange, black colors. The male and the female began lip smacking each other, bumping bodies, one rolling over and the other biting at its underside. The other male was chased to the far end of the tank and just observed. They kept this behavior up for at least 8 minutes. Swimming face to face standing upright, rolling in the water.
This is the first time I have ever observed this behavior. When the 8 minutes was up they got their color back and the three of them went back into their cave.
I was hoping someone has seen this before. I don't think they were fighting, spawning? Not sure....Any thought would be appreciated.

Sounds like a pecking order squabble, pretty standard stuff for clown loaches. The color change you observed is called graying out. This article touches on it (near the bottom of the page)
http://www.loaches.com/articles/clown-l ... variations

Its cool that you saw that happen. have you considered getting a few more clown loaches to make a larger shoal.

Thank you all so much.. This was the first time I ever saw this graying....It sure matches the description of fighting for
who is the big cahoona. They were mouth locked and pushing back and forth...then they sort of made up by being next to each other all cuddely. Then all three went in for a snooze. I tried finding info through internet search but I wasn't that successful. Thank you so very much for providing the link.

Hi, congratulations on the sensational age of your Clown Loaches.

You did mean to say they are 21+ years old did you?

Anyway, if you had them since 1990 I am gobsmacked that you haven't seen this behaviour before.

Mine have been doing it since 1995!

I guess you are sexing them on their size and body shape?

None of my males can challenge my bigger females, but males sometimes challenge each other.

The thing that amuses me about my females is that when they have had a trial of strength they, like your fish, also sit together side by side on the gravel and chill out, obviously still friends!

My males often swim side by side with females in a vigorous "spawning behaviour" that has not led to the release of eggs as far as I can tell.

yep I have had them since 1990 and this really is the first time they have grayed. But then the two cuddled next to
each other. I was told that you can sex them by their body shape and the tail fin. I was told if the tail fin hooks on the ends it is a male. The female has round larger ends. She is also heftier and bigger. Any way two of them have hooks and one has round ends. Their underside is slightly different also.....So I hope that is the right way to sex them. If not, it was one of each. Thanks for the reply.... I have pictures, but no real way to post them.

Just to be sure that they were squabbling and not mating, you might want to watch for eggs. My clown loaches didn't squabble but one did gray out and I read online that this means that the female is the alpha in a school of clown loaches. So when a clown loach grays out, then it is a female. That is another way you can tell if you have a male and/or female. I have two females and one male clown loaches.

redshark1: you have beautiful clown loaches. I love them!

Thanks for positive comments loachlover77.

Just a few observations on the above:

Looking at the tails of my fish is inconclusive. There is no discernable difference.

My males will grey out as well as the females.

My females are both much larger than my males and behave differently in their interactions. The males always initiate the spawning behaviour as in many of other fish. They swim alongside the females and follow the females every move, which is usually at high speed.

Redshark:
looking at your picture the hefty one, on the bottom, I am assuming is your female...and her tail looks thicker ...more filled in with rounded edges? The smaller one on top does have slightly pointed edges to his tail. pointing in. Almost like a hook. The tail is thinner. Maybe it is just the photo. But you are right there is a difference in behavior...and the female is definitely larger. I am watching them to see if anything new develops. Crossing my fingers .....
Thanks again I am encouraged that others have older loaches. Maybe that is the key. It takes forever for them to mature.

I hope that you have baby clown loaches. But if not that is okay, maybe they weren't ready yet. It is fun to watch them and their antics though.

redshark1: you're welcome

With my large females, I can see the outline of eggs in their belly.

wow, chefkeith, that is very interesting. Have you seen any spawning type behavior in your group?

chefkeith wrote:With my large females, I can see the outline of eggs in their belly.

That is awesome, would love to see some pics!

glenna wrote:wow, chefkeith, that is very interesting. Have you seen any spawning type behavior in your group?

Yes, a few times, but it pretty rare. Usually about once a year.

EmilyMarie85 wrote:That is awesome, would love to see some pics!

I'll try to take pics. Not sure that I'll get good enough picture quality. I'll also take some pics of my entire fishroom and start a new post.

you might be able to inject hormones in eggs if they ever get layed.