Clown Loaches Not Eating

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zimmy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:29 am

Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by zimmy » Fri Nov 12, 2021 12:56 pm

This is my first post on the forum. Been lurking on and off for a few years.

I just picked up 10 clown loaches that are 2-3" in size. I meant to buy 8 and asked if there was any discount for purchasing that number and the LFS owner said he'd give me one for free. After he caught them there was an extra one in the bag and he said he'd throw that one in too (I'm a regular customer and have given him some nice fish over the years so he was likely feeling generous).

The tank is an 8' 240G tank with a 120G sump. Previous occupants were a large group of messy belligerent Central American cichlids. They'd been in there for a few years so it's a mature tank. I've raised the water temperature to 84F. Long-term I'd like to keep it around 82. My water is hard and my pH is around 7.5 out of the tap. I don't do anything to mess with it other than add the appropriate amount of dechlorinator.

Tank mates are about 70 1-1.5" tiger barbs and a 3-4" Leopard Frog Pleco. Once the fish get bigger, I'll rehome some of the inhabitants.

Substrate is sand with a bit of gravel (for a more natural look), a few large rocks and pieces of Manzanita driftwood that span almost across the whole length of the tank. I have a few low light plants (Java fern, anubias and jungle val). Also a couple of golden pothos, one with the roots in the tank and the other in the sump. There's also duckweed usually multiplying in the sump.

There is probably about 320G of water in the system and I change out 140G once per week. I vacuum the sand almost daily as the powerheads conveniently push most of the detritus to one spot close to where the python is permanently set up.

The clown loaches went into the tank on Wednesday (today is Friday). I'd say half of them think they're tiger barbs and they swim back and forth along the length of the tank and tentatively join in on the feeding frenzy that happens a couple of times per day. One of them has been flashing a bit but is eating and is very active. I'm watching to see if I notice any changes in case it's ich.

It's the other half of the clown loach group I'm checking on. They stay on one end of the tank and swim up and down the side. Very rarely they join the other group to do a partial trip across the length of the tank but I haven't seen them eating.

I feed high quality pellets and flakes mostly. Yesterday I threw in some shelled crushed peas that went over well with all the tank inhabitants except this small group.

Do I just need to give them time? Any other suggestions?

MultipleTankSyndrome
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:07 am
Location: Loachaholica

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by MultipleTankSyndrome » Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:30 pm

I would say you should indeed give them more time. Mine took 2 weeks to start eating once moved to their permanent 473 liter, despite not having eaten for a week before.
473 liter - pictus catfish, smallscale archerfish, planned pumpkinseed sunfish
110 liter - green neon+cardinal tetras
473 liter - roseline sharks, striped kuhli+black kuhli+Burmese loaches, zebra/weather/neon kuhli loaches (planned)

MultipleTankSyndrome
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:07 am
Location: Loachaholica

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by MultipleTankSyndrome » Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:47 am

By the way, I ran it through AqAdvisor and it wouldn't be that overstocked. You'd just need to remove at least 20 of the tiger barbs to stay at or under their 130%, the 100% for intermediate-advanced fishkeepers.
473 liter - pictus catfish, smallscale archerfish, planned pumpkinseed sunfish
110 liter - green neon+cardinal tetras
473 liter - roseline sharks, striped kuhli+black kuhli+Burmese loaches, zebra/weather/neon kuhli loaches (planned)

zimmy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:29 am

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by zimmy » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:00 pm

Thanks for that tip about the AqAdvisor result. I wonder what the criteria for intermediate/advanced are according to them?

I would for sure reduce the tiger barbs by 20 to keep the rest of the stocking level intact. I suspect I have a long way to go before that becomes necessary.

Quick update: the clown loaches are not racing to the surface yet at feeding time (as the barbs do) but they all now seem to explore the tank and pick at the substrate, presumably, for bits of food that have gotten past the army of barbs. One of them has become a bit greyed out but it's as busy as the rest in searching for food.

So far they are all out and about even when the lights are on in the tank.

MultipleTankSyndrome
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:07 am
Location: Loachaholica

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by MultipleTankSyndrome » Sun Nov 14, 2021 3:10 pm

zimmy wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:00 pm
Thanks for that tip about the AqAdvisor result. I wonder what the criteria for intermediate/advanced are according to them?
Happy I could help. I think the intermediate/advanced criteria has to do with how much tank maintenance (replacing water, cleaning filters, etc) a fishkeeper might have experience doing, but I've never been able to find specifiers about it.

You are correct that you'd need a long time before it would be necessary to reduce those tiger barbs in order to keep space/bioload manageable. Not only will the clown loaches take 20+ years to grow up (as you probably already know), AqAdvisor assumes all adult clown loaches plugged into the equation are 30 cm, when the proper range for adult females is anywhere between 20-30 cm and males are smaller.

Come to think of it, depending on your proportion of large female clown loaches to small-average female clown loaches and male clown loaches of any size, you may not have to remove any of the tiger barbs at all. In fact, I don't think you will have to remove any of the 70 you have since they'll die of old age long before the size of the clown loaches necessitates removal of some (if that even happens at all of course).

Good luck with your loaches and barbs (plus the pleco)!
473 liter - pictus catfish, smallscale archerfish, planned pumpkinseed sunfish
110 liter - green neon+cardinal tetras
473 liter - roseline sharks, striped kuhli+black kuhli+Burmese loaches, zebra/weather/neon kuhli loaches (planned)

zimmy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:29 am

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by zimmy » Sun Nov 14, 2021 4:08 pm

Thanks! Yes, I was wondering about the same thing that the barbs may die off by the time the loaches reach their full size. Good point about the ratio of M:F. It would be great if they're mostly males. Having to do less tank maintenance is always preferable.

MultipleTankSyndrome
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:07 am
Location: Loachaholica

Re: Clown Loaches Not Eating

Post by MultipleTankSyndrome » Sun Nov 14, 2021 4:24 pm

Agreed on the less maintenance.
Some more bonuses of a greater amount of smaller males that you should know are more space for every fish in the tank, and more colorful clown loaches. Just about every male keeps its bright juvenile colors, but some females get rather washed out with age.
473 liter - pictus catfish, smallscale archerfish, planned pumpkinseed sunfish
110 liter - green neon+cardinal tetras
473 liter - roseline sharks, striped kuhli+black kuhli+Burmese loaches, zebra/weather/neon kuhli loaches (planned)

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