Clowning Around

The forum for the very best information on loaches of all types. Come learn from our membership's vast experience!

Moderator: LoachForumModerators

Post Reply
User avatar
Emma Turner
Posts: 8901
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm
Location: Peterborough, UK
Contact:

Clowning Around

Post by Emma Turner » Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:06 am

Hi all,

I thought I would share some up-to-date photos of my Clowns with you.

We re-arranged the tank on Sunday evening to make it a bit more navigable for some of our larger residents, adding another £100's worth of giant bogwood pieces and Java Fern motherplants (hopefully they will last a couple of months this time, but my lot are keen plant munchers..).

Sadly most photos that show the whole set-up at a distance came out far too dark <crappy Nikon in-built flash :evil: > but the good news is that thanks to JD's great advice I am getting a decent external flash next week, so things should improve!
(JD, I'm getting the Nikon SB-800 plus that expensive cable! :shock: ).

Anyway, here they are.......

The fish on the left is Marge, our beautiful 11.5" Clown:
Image

And here she is again:
Image

They're all excited because it's near feeding time:
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

You can see a few scratches on Stripes's nose where he and Marge have been fighting:
Image

Image

Some close-ups of Marge & co:
Image

Image

Image

Image

This one is very interesting, as you can see Marge is sifting through the sand looking for any missed particles of food. She's expelling the sand out through the gills, just like, for example, what a goby would do.
Image

And here's one final shot of part of the tank after lights out. Lots of Clowning around going on in the dark:
Image

I hope that you enjoyed looking through them.

Emma
Image
East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
Image

sealkay
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:59 am
Location: UK

Post by sealkay » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:17 am

Wow your tank looks amazing.

Firstly, what size tank is tank is that?

Secondly, I know clown loach grow in spurts but what is about the average growth rate for a fish across the year? I have five loaches in a 100 litre tank and four of them have grown about 30 - 40% over the last 7 months but the smallest fish hasn't grown at all. Its probably the most active fish, eats well and is very sociable, but just doesn't seem to grow any ideas?

User avatar
Martin Thoene
Posts: 11186
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:38 am
Location: Toronto.....Actually, I've been on LOL since September 1998

Post by Martin Thoene » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:29 am

Yep Emma...your Clowns are definitely a "bundle".

That full tank shot is amazing.

Martin.
Image Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Image

mamaschild
Posts: 532
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:15 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Post by mamaschild » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:22 am

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, Emma :mrgreen:

User avatar
Graeme Robson
Posts: 9096
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:34 am
Location: Peterborough, UK
Contact:

Post by Graeme Robson » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:41 pm

Absolutely Amazing! :D

Thanks for sharing your pictures Emma.

Baz Bluck
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:53 pm
Location: Northampton England

Post by Baz Bluck » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:51 pm

Mine are tadpoles in comparison, brilliant stuff.
Baz

User avatar
clownloach
Posts: 65
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Steamboat Springs Colorado

Post by clownloach » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:02 pm

nice clowns you took some really nice pictures.
Q('.'Q)

poeticpyro
Posts: 287
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:11 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by poeticpyro » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:06 pm

AMAZING!!!! i'm also curious about tank size, it's got to be a big one! lol.
many tanks...

got to love my fat little wobbly wigglies...

User avatar
mikev
Posts: 3103
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:06 pm
Location: NY

Post by mikev » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:17 pm

Emma Turner wrote:I hope that you enjoyed looking through them
Immensely so, thank you very much for sharing.

Is it a general tendency to lose the orange color with size? -- it appears than none of the CL's above 5"-6" retain orange.

andyroo
Posts: 886
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:00 am
Location: Mo-Bay, Jamiaca
Contact:

Post by andyroo » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:44 pm

Mikev,

I had the same question re: colour fading...
My biggest is still less then 5cm... so not a problem as yet.
Try feeding cheap little cocktail shrimp. Makes red and orange colours pop in most spp. Certainly works wonders on oscars and my little CLs are vibrant.

Andyroo
"I can eat 50 eggs !"

User avatar
mikev
Posts: 3103
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:06 pm
Location: NY

Post by mikev » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:03 pm

Andyroo,

Thanks, but no, I don't have an immediate problem: my largests are around 8cm with bright colors. I was only commenting on Emma's pictures which seem to be a good proof of orange fading.

To make sure: cheap little cocktail shrimp -- you are talking about the shrimp we eat, right? I was very tempted to try it--it seemed like something CL's would enjoy---but was afraid to try.

jerry_tyler
Posts: 93
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:56 pm
Location: greenville texas

Post by jerry_tyler » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:36 am

As usual, another bunch of wonderful pics of the very nice shoal of clowns. Love to see them thanks for sharing.
jerry :D :D :D

User avatar
ClownMob
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:32 am

Post by ClownMob » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:31 am

outstanding pics of your gang, emma. :D

Have seen some of those before, and honestly, can't see them often enuff, such an impressive group of clowns, congrats on a great tank and such a cool gang of fish.
ImageImage
75g O'clown environment

User avatar
Emma Turner
Posts: 8901
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm
Location: Peterborough, UK
Contact:

Post by Emma Turner » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:18 am

Thank you everyone for all your nice comments! :D

For those of who asked what size the tank is, it is 1000 litres. It's filtered by 3 Eheims, 2 of which are the huge Professionel 3's. There's also two additional large Aquaclear powerheads on the tank for even more water movement. The water is very soft (from our RO unit) with a pH of 5.0. Temp is kept around 82 deg F.

They are a happy bunch, and I feel so priveledged that I get to see all this behaviour from them every night.

Mikev, with regards to the colours fading: yes I do think they lose some of their 'orange-ness' as they get bigger. Some of my big fish were actually paler to start with (suspected regional differences), but others that were brighter have paled down somewhat. But do remember that all the above photos were taken under blue moon lighting, which can distort the colours a little. They are fed a huge variety of foods, of which prawns (shrimps) are their favourite. The bigger loaches take them whole, and we chop them up small for the little 'uns. It is by far and away their preferred food, and they get them at least 5 times a week.

Emma
Image
East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
Image

User avatar
mikev
Posts: 3103
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:06 pm
Location: NY

Post by mikev » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:56 am

Emma Turner wrote: Mikev, with regards to the colours fading: yes I do think they lose some of their 'orange-ness' as they get bigger.
I believe so and I think your picture clinches this. The largest two I have started developing a narrow but growing yellow band on the border between orange and black...this may be another way orange is lost (in addition to simply fading).
But do remember that all the above photos were taken under blue moon lighting, which can distort the colours a little.
Right, but since colors of all CL's are distorted the same way, you still have a very conclusive evidence.

As for yellow-orange as a regional variation: it well may be this, or something else (one-gene difference, type of food they were fed at early age, or any combination). This may actually be easier to figure out with khulis first (there is the same yellow-orange distinction).
They are fed a huge variety of foods, of which prawns (shrimps) are their favourite.
Thank you. I tried and failed (almost no interest from loaches, except for fast-growing yoyos who eat everything). I'll try another brand next.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 104 guests