Is this shadowing?(video)

[LoachOrgy]

Is this shadowing? The smaller one follows the larger one around. I notice that the larger one almost seems to instigate it. Sometimes pushing the smaller one away but if the smaller one stays away too long, the bigger one goes close to it and tries to get it going again. this was all i could catch on video. they seem to be just a bit shy of the camera still.

[Emma Turner]

Yes, that is shadowing, albeit a very short burst. Will try to capture some of mine doing this one of these evenings when I find some time......

[LoachOrgy]

cool. yeah they do it longer but when i take out the camera, they disburse. this morning i saw 3 smaller loaches shadowing my big loach at the same time. the funniest part was that the big loach was trying to go as fast as possible and spin in circles around obstacles to get the smaller loaches off of him...lol

[Ippo456]

Why do smaller loaches shadow the bigger ones?
Is it to protect them from predators?

[KLKelly]

I clicked on this post because I had to find out what shadowing was. Thought it was a wierd loach disease. That is so cool that they do that!

[Emma Turner]

Here is a recent discussion on this phenomenon for those who are interested: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... =shadowing
Emma

[LoachOrgy]

ippo, they just follow around the larger loaches and annoy them. at times the larger loaches seem to instigate it but most of the time, the larger loaches try to fend off the smaller ones....its very entertaining when multiple small loaches follow around the large ones at the same time. this morning i caught them all following eachother in a big circle. it was like one big shadowing contest.

[Ippo456]

Hah that's so cute.
I initially thought that the smaller ones shadowed the bigger one for protection of some sort.
Your video was very interesting and I hope we all can find out more if this is actually going to forecast some spawning actions in the near future

Does anybody know why clowns are particularly more social than other types of fishes?
Are all botias more social than other common tropical fishes you'd find in LFS?
I know a lot of tropical fishes do well in schools of larger than 3 (for home aquarium) so that they feel safer, due to their small size, such as tetras and coryfish.

Hey LoachOrgy, has any of your loaches got stuck in your decoration?
You have a really interesting piece(s) of decoration in your tank & I'm trying to figure out if that's plastic, because it looks like a stony coral.
Makes your tank look like a reef tank - pretty.

[loachmom]

Thanks for this video. I actually witnessed this the other evening with two of my clowns. I wondered if it was the shadowing that I had read about on this forum, and now I know that it was.

[LoachOrgy]

Hah that's so cute.
I initially thought that the smaller ones shadowed the bigger one for protection of some sort.
Your video was very interesting and I hope we all can find out more if this is actually going to forecast some spawning actions in the near future

Does anybody know why clowns are particularly more social than other types of fishes?
Are all botias more social than other common tropical fishes you'd find in LFS?
I know a lot of tropical fishes do well in schools of larger than 3 (for home aquarium) so that they feel safer, due to their small size, such as tetras and coryfish.

Hey LoachOrgy, has any of your loaches got stuck in your decoration?
You have a really interesting piece(s) of decoration in your tank & I'm trying to figure out if that's plastic, because it looks like a stony coral.
Makes your tank look like a reef tank - pretty.

this is one of those fake tree stump type ornaments. i think its plastic and i made sure it had no sharp edges on the inside or outside. i havn't had any loaches get stuck that they couldn't get out. the largest loach is getting too big for the holes in the larger ornament but has moved camp to the larger opening stump. this stump has a 180 degree opening in the top so the loach shouldnt get stuck. the largest loach got stuck in one hole but got out quckly. i think the bigger loach was playing with one of the smaller loaches that sleeps there so it may have been staying in the hole purposely.

there was a post somewhere recent that had a smaller yo-yo loach stuck in an ornament similar to my smaller stump that the alpha loach now sleeps in. .http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... ach+stuck.

all my loaches are too large to go into that size spot but smaller loaches could get stuck. the pvc pipe i have in the tank is around 2.5". all of the loaches can fit through easily now. but in the near future i am going to upgrade to some heavy dudy pvc. i think i saw some 6" diameter pvc piping being used at a site during a site visit the other day.

i am upgrading tanks and at the same time will upgrade the pvc pipe. right now i can tell all the larger loaches want to get big...they seem to grow everytime i see them. its almost that time...in about 3 months they will have a larger home.