new clowns how to?

[cloudgodd]

I have 3 - 1.5 inch loaches and 1 - 2 inch, and they are kind of timid. they run and hide every time someone walks by the aquarium.

what things can I do to make them less timid? (i.e. I have seen pictures of clowns hanging out and eat out of the owners hand.)

[starsplitter7]

What other fish do you have in the tank with them? What kind of shelters, plants? Post some pictures.

[cloudgodd]

well there is a Bushy Nose Ancistrus pleco, a cory, a Otocinclus, and 4 clowns there are 2 caves, and a drift wood bridge for shade, as well as plenty of plastic plants.

picture:

[starsplitter7]

Your tank looks very nice.

If your tank is big enough, you need to add a couple more Cories and Otos. Both are schooling fish. I have about 40 Cories of 8 species (in a bunch of different tanks). I have 8 Otos. They are much happier in a group. I would get at least two, but 3-5 would be better.

I don't see any dither fish in your group, and that may be part of the problem. Dither fish are fish that tend to school in the middle or upper reaches and call the all clear to the clowns, so they know it is safe to be out. I used rummynose tetras and harlequin rasboras for dither fish. But there are many to choose from. These fish also need to be kept in groups of 5+.

Your Oto and Bushy nose would appreciate some zucchini once in a while, and so will your clowns.

[cloudgodd]

yea I had 3 Dalmatian mollies in there with them but, the clowns are small and need to eat more a day than the mollies, and the mollies were eating to much. so I am kind of at a loss... will it hurt them to wait til they get bigger for the dither fish?

[starsplitter7]

The dither fish will make them feel more at ease. Mollies are ravenous eaters. Harlequin rasboras are more reserved and school nicely. The sinking food like shrimp pellets are usually ignored by the rasboras, and the Cory cats will also eat it.

Many loaches hide if there are no fish swimming in the open, because they think a predator is in the area.

[raving_wayne]

i have found that using hoplo cats as dithers seems to work and the clowns and hoplos are great together i have 6 hoplos in mine and all my loaches get along with them wonderfully and dont scare to easy eitherbut as said before there are many to choose from

[cloudgodd]

yeah I think I am going to get 3 corys for cleaning crew and I went with 6 zebra danio's for dither. The clowns are doing better starting to learn that I usually mean food...lol

[Ashleigh]

How long have you had them for? I find it takes a while for youngsters to gain confidence, although if you add them to a well established group they don't usually take long. I think a bit of time, few bold dithers and they will be out in no time

For feeding by hand, I just started by holding a cube of frozens in my hand and started to slowly release bits, with the loaches lack of patience and curiosity getting the better of them they soon realised that they get more food from the hand than waiting for it to fall. Usually takes a week or so, some of mine will happily sit in my hand and feed, others will just steal bits and swim off, but once they know, even if you don't bother feeding them like that for a few months... they will remember



Ashleigh
Ashleigh