Clown Loaches lost bright orange coloration
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:13 am
Hey All,
Ive been looking for an answer and have failed in researching it so maybe someone can provide an answer.
Background:
55g tank
6 Clown loaches - 4-5 years 5-7"
3 Clown loaches - new additions 1-2"
8 Tiger Barbs
1 Rainbow Shark
1 Clown Pleco
Ive had 6 Clown Loaches for around 4-5 years now, they have grown from 1" to 5-7" in that time period. The play regularly and are pretty friendly, especially since I added Tiger Barbs to the 55g about a year or two ago (before then were a crazy amount of mollies). One thing I noticed is the bright orange the older CLs used to have has faded over time. In the tank are a few pieces of driftwood but a lack of plants, the loaches seem to eat everything/destroy whatever I put in there. I feed normally shrimp pellets and algae tablets with bloodworms on weekends usually. Is there a way I can change the tank to where their orange color comes back as bright as it used to be? Ive seen loaches twice the size of mine and they were much brighter.
One of my filters recently kicked the bucket and I plan on building a sump with a pump in the 800-1000gph range. This will most likely occur in the next couple of weeks.
Feel free to ask me any questions and I am open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Ive been looking for an answer and have failed in researching it so maybe someone can provide an answer.
Background:
55g tank
6 Clown loaches - 4-5 years 5-7"
3 Clown loaches - new additions 1-2"
8 Tiger Barbs
1 Rainbow Shark
1 Clown Pleco
Ive had 6 Clown Loaches for around 4-5 years now, they have grown from 1" to 5-7" in that time period. The play regularly and are pretty friendly, especially since I added Tiger Barbs to the 55g about a year or two ago (before then were a crazy amount of mollies). One thing I noticed is the bright orange the older CLs used to have has faded over time. In the tank are a few pieces of driftwood but a lack of plants, the loaches seem to eat everything/destroy whatever I put in there. I feed normally shrimp pellets and algae tablets with bloodworms on weekends usually. Is there a way I can change the tank to where their orange color comes back as bright as it used to be? Ive seen loaches twice the size of mine and they were much brighter.
One of my filters recently kicked the bucket and I plan on building a sump with a pump in the 800-1000gph range. This will most likely occur in the next couple of weeks.
Feel free to ask me any questions and I am open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.