clown loaches and angel fish

[kangarooooooooo]

my clown loaches ae ganging up on my angelfish and eatting the **** out of their fins!
what can i do. they even do it after eatting. my angelfish doesn't even have a tail anymore

[BrianNY]

Hmmm. Just because I haven't seen this doesn't mean it can't happen. I have 3 large clown loaches in a tank with veil tail angels and haven't had any problem. Are you sure the angel isn't being beaten up by another angel? That's very common. You might try providing the loaches with some hiding places. How many do you have?

I would also remove the battered angel to QT and treat with melafix.

[kangarooooooooo]

yes it's the loahces becuz sometimes all three of them will chase the angel sometimes two sometimes one and rip at the tail. they have plenty of hiding places.

[happygirl65]

How big is your tank?

I looked at your gallery, you have some really beautiful fish, and your tank does look like they have hiding places down low. Perhaps some higher hiding places for the angels could help?? Like some tall plants or something in the middle to break up the line of sight??? Just a suggestion to help out your poor angel. Sorry I dont have any brilliant advice.

I wish you all the best.

[dapellegrini]

I was also thinking tank size. In the past I have had many of these together and never had a problem, but they always had lots of space to themselves... The clowns might get aggressive if they feel like they have nowhere to go...

[kangarooooooooo]

it's a 55 gallon. they are not agressive. and it's only towards one angelfish. no other fish. just one angel. not the other. it's annoying. but i can assure u there is alot of hiding places in my tank. they all have there favorite cave that they go to everyday around 2 and they explore all oover the tank. i don't have many fish... maybe they just have a taste for this angels fin. which is sad. becuz he's being harassed.

[hc8719]

i believe it, it only takes one bad clown loach to start it before the others catch on.

you can put a dog that would never hurt a rabit alone, but with 2 other aggressive dogs, they'll do it because someone else is doing it

i'd get the angel in a qt, and give him some melafix

[squeekness]

That is odd. I have a large clown loach and he never goes after anybody in my tank. He hides most of the time and pokes around in the gravel when he's hungry, that's pretty much it. Maybe it's like hc8719 said, one bad loach teaching the others.