Clown Loaches keep dying!

[Plecostoman]

I've spent WAY too much money on clown loaches. The first time, I bought two of them. One died the next day and the other lasted a while. After a few days I moved the remaining one into my other aquarium and he lived peacefully with a cory cat and (believe it or not) a pirahna. He lived for about a week and then just died. He didn't get eaten, he just died.

Then a few months later, I figured I'd give it another try. Those clown loaches are just irresistable. This time I bought three of them, because since my last attempt, I heard you have to keep atleast 3 or more together. They died. Within about a two week period. I don't get it!

I'm thinking it probably has something to do with the water's ph or alkalinity or something but that's not something I'm going to mess with because I have too many unreplaceable fish in my aquarium and I'm afraid that if I adjust it, it would hurt the fish I already have in there.

 

[BrianNY]

Loaches aren't usually that fragile so something is up with your water. One thing that's especially deadly to them is copper. Have you tested your water for it? Have you used any meds containing it?

 

[Menagerie]

I have decided not to keep loaches either. The little ones are just not strong. This has happened in both Idaho and Calgary.
The only thing I will suggest is to purchase them when they are older and at least 3".

 

[tetrin]

i completely agree with Menagerie...i was having no luck with clowns either...out of 4 small guys, two survived somehow and the other two were not looking good...but by sheer luck i found 2 bigger guys about 3" and they have thrived ever since...barring the ich thingy...for which they have a strange affinity 8O ...

the motto goes...the more the merrier... and...................size does matter...

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I have 5 out of 6 Jeuvinile Clowns left (pretty good all things considered) when I introduced them to the tank (just over a month and a half ago) I had recently used coppersafe, this is a no no with loaches, that is when the first one died at 3/4" long, since then one has done something stupid (like been bitten on the tail) and was spiraling through the tank, it found a place under the driftwood, hyper-ventalated for a while, then over the next couple of days started venturing out again, been doing fine ever since (tho he's still small)

a couple things I've learned about Clowns.

-Get shrimp pellets, the sinking ones, they love them (could explain the piture on the front of the bottle )

-Make sure you put a small piece of conduit (3/4" - 1", seems small, but they will jam themselves into whatever they can) about 6" in length, do not bury the ends.

-Get a copper test kit, if there is any copper in the tank, they will be the first to show it.

-Make sure your dechlorinator covers both chlorine and chloramine (I use Prime from Seachem, it's also cost effective since it's 5x more potent @ 1tsp per 50 gal of water added)

-Your temp should be at or above 78F

-a bit of current in the water is also nice for them, but not absolutely needed.

BrianNY is quite correct, loaches are warning fish, and will often die first when something bad happens to the water.

Oh, and my PH is 7.4-7.5 consistant (tho I'ld like it a bit lower)

edit: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Copper 0, GH 9, KH 4.5, 0 Salt added and it smells like dirt added here for reference.

 

[unknown_7]

What's your water like?

 

[kukerdan]

i dont know what you guys are doing wrong, being the experts that you are...

I have a tiny clown in my overstocked 10, that is doing very well, and ive had him for weeks, andin my 90 i have a trio, one ive had for months, the other 2 i got a few weeks ago and they are healthy as can be........... Try adding salt to your water, i found it helps alot

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

according to yer sig you have 33

 

[kukerdan]

hehe its wrong its 3

 

[KaiserFish]

I have not had any problems keeping Clown Loachs in Calgary. I'm pretty selective about which ones I pick out. Look for the healthy ones in the tank at the LFS.

As for keeping 3 min. I kept 2 only for almost 2 years with no problems. They are still quite happy and active. I recently added a 3rd one to the group (he's a runt compared to the first 2) but all 3 are constantly in action, and if anything have become more active since the introduction of the 3rd. Also, the other 2 seemed to not be growing much (they got to around 4inchs or so and seemed to stop) but since adding the 3rd one, I have already noticed them filling out more and gaining in length.

They love to jam themselves between my filter intake pipe and the glass side of the aquarium. They play chase with the Bala sharks all the time. They are quite talkative and I often hear their clicking noises from the other side of the house.

My ph, ammonia, nitrate, etc are all stable and the temp is kept around 78f. My filter creates a current pushing the water from one side of the tank to the other, and the clowns often swim head first into the current for what appears to be a workout routine.

On a side note, I rarely see my clowns do the lying on the side dead to the world sleep thing alot of people mention clowns doing.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

On a side note, I rarely see my clowns do the lying on the side dead to the world sleep thing alot of people mention clowns doing.

I've seen mine pin themselves between the glass and thermometer, they do look really dead while sleeping, my wife thought it was dead for sure.. funny to hear the names she was calling him as he swam away

 

[BeerBotia]

I started with 10 Clown Loaches (tiny guys/gals) and ended up with 7 after about 2 weeks. That was 3 yrs. ago and they're all doing well (3-4"). Clowns can be challenging to get established.

*I do smaller weekly water changes (~10%).

*I give 'em plenty of cover...caves of stacked <edit> slate (smoothed the edges) and rocks to form nooks and crannies...just make sure they're stable so no pancakefish form! Something more simple in the beginning wouuld suffice (a plastic plant pot cut in half).

*I use lots of filtration 330 GPH + 300 GPH on a 55 gal tank (slight overkill IMHO).

My experience has been once you get them established, they are actually quite hardy. I've actually had more issues with Rainbowfish than Loaches.