Clown Loach pecking order question

[Greensleeves]

Hi guys - I lurk here a lot; haven't really posted much on this forum and that's mainly because my clown loaches have always got along, erm, swimmingly

last weekend I introduced five small clowns (1.5" inches) into my established 75 gallon community tank, home to two larger clowns. One of the new loaches has been rejected by the group. She hangs off to the side or on the far side of the tank. I thought that she was sick, until I saw her in action: she is trying to dominate (bully, rather) the group of small clowns that I brought home, nipping, chasing, and circling them. When she begins this behavior, the two established clowns will swim over to the group and chase her out - they don't bite at at her but their presence drives her off because they are three times as large as she. Then one or both of the larger clowns will remain with the group and the group accepts their presence but will not follow the larger clowns in a pack.

I'm guessing this is all a dominance/ battle for control game, but I'm wondering what will happen to the rejected loach? She tries to come back over and take control when she can - very ambitious for such a small thing, will she get killed? I don't want her to get so stressed that she breaks out in ich and subsequently, creates an outbreak in my tank.

Any tips would be appreciated. What can I do, short of group therapy? Remove her and return her to the store? Get more loaches? Do nothing and let them resolve it? For how long do dominance battles run?

I've had clowns in the past but have never had this issue. The worst I had was a pack that I brought home two years ago split into two groups and stayed apart. No fights. My tank is large: 75 gallons, lots of hiding places with normal parameters and bi-weekly to weekly water changes.

Best,
~Gs

[Doc]

It is just natural heirachy behaviour. These battles can often last a long time but usually settle out with only the occasional battle. Adding more Loaches if your stocking room allows should help the matter as any aggression and dominance is spread out.

[Martin Thoene]

Try confusing everyone by doing a decor re-arrange. Sometimes the disturbance can take their focus off the heirarchy issues.

Martin.

[chefkeith]

First I want to shot down that ich myth.

Fish won't have ich parasite outbreaks from being stressed alone. If your aquarium and fish are ich free, then there will be no outbreaks no matter how stressed the fish get. Ich needs a host fish to survive.

If you don't follow a strict quarantine procedure with new fish, then it is possible that your fish are already infected with ich. Ich can stay hidden in the fishes gills for months, perhaps years, without spreading to other body parts. Stress can weaken the fish and open the door for the parasite to spread to noticeable parts of the body.
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Ditto on what the others said. Anytime you add new clown loaches you'll probably be messing with the hierarchy. IMO, adding more won't help and may make things worse. IMO, it's best to purchase clowns that have the same bloodline and have been living together since they were born. That way the hierarchy structure rarely changes. If you mix and match clown loaches from different sources, battles for dominance can last for a few days and may reignite often.

Adding more hidey holes or caves might help. A bigger tank may help also.

[FAILED]

So what if you run a UV constantly in your tank? will it kill any parasite in the tank and in the fish?

[Diana]

A UV sterilizer will only kill organisms that pass through it. That is, only things drifting in the water. If a parasite or bacteria is on or in the fish it will not pass through the sterilizer, so cannot be killed that way. If a parasite has some phase of its life off the fish it may pass through and get killed. Good circulation so there are no dead spots in the tank and the proper watts of UV are important to kill disease, parasite and algae organisms.

[FAILED]

Sorry for jumping to another subject... But thank you diana for clarifying that up with me.

[Greensleeves]

Thanks for the replies. I rearranged the decor, got a couple more loaches, and that seemed to do the trick. They all swim together as one group now, led by one large loach. Two weeks later, no more hostilities. Thank you for taking the time to reply to my inquiry.