Clown Loaches feeding advice required

[swozzie]

I have 4 fast feeding and greedy Red Line Torpedo Barbs. I have just added 3 Clown Loaches (3" in length).

The Clown Loaches don't seem to be eating. Today I did the following...

Fed the barbs some sinking "complete" food knowing that they would gulp as much as possible before it hits the floor hopeing the fill them up. This took 5 minutes and the loaches didn't even notice this was happening.

Then I put flake food in. Again the loaches took no notice and the barbs eventually consumed all of this in about 10 minutes. Flake even floated past one of the loaches but he wasn't interested.

Then I put in an algae tablet. The bloated barbs had a go at it here and there and after 20 minutes half of it was gone. Again the loaches took no notice. I took out the tablet.

Then I put bloodworms in the cave where the loaches were resting. They just ignored it. Eventually the bloodworms found there way into the tank where the barbs gorged themselves some more!

Do you think the loaches are just not hungry, more concerned with the new surroundings or used to eating whatever the fish shop was feeding them?

A friend of mine just had 2 Clown Loaches die after only having them for 2 weeks and I am concerned mine will go the same way.

The water is fine. Planted tank, over 8mg/l oxygen, no ammonia or nitrite, minimal nitrate. 180litre tank, ph 6.8-7.0.

Any help much appreciated...

 

[BrianNY]

Don't panic just yet. It is common for fish to go on a hunger strike after the stress of a move. Try keeping the lights off for a day. This may quicken their adjustment to their new surroundings.

 

[Christmasfish]

They may be normal clowns and prefer to eat in low light or in the evening.

 

[jennymit21]

i had probs with the first 3-4 clowns that i owned........same thing-wouldn't eat and always hiding. Follow brian and christmas' advice. Keep the lights off and feed them at bedtime as they tend to be evening feeders naturally.

How is their color by the way?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Just to add to what everybody else has said...give them a chance to adjust. Maybe they aren't used to eating at the time that you feed them..maybe it is the change in foods. Could be a number of things.

I luckily haven't had this problem, but I don't have barbs either... Mine eat EVERYTHING! They eat out of the filter intake, the plants, the pleco! But, I drop in a few algae wafers every other day, and they seem to take to those after bed time. Try feeding at night.

Hope this helps

 

[Keeper]

When I first got my loach, he didn't even come out from behind the heater for 2 weeks. Now, he won't even leave the front of the tank. He needs to be the center of attention. Just give your little guy some time.

 

[patryuji]

When I first got my loach, he didn't even come out from behind the heater for 2 weeks. Now, he won't even leave the front of the tank. He needs to be the center of attention. Just give your little guy some time.

My loaches that do this will nip at my hand and arm when I do maintenance on the tank. They even swim right into my open hand as if they want to be "held". Those suckers have sharp little teeth.

 

[poppab02]

Yeah, I had the same problem with my loach, never seemed to be eating, always hiding. It makes it real difficult to determine whether they are simply being shy or whether there is actually something wrong. Luckily mine was simply being shy. I did notice though that if I was up in the middle of the night after turning off the tank light he would come out and eat scraps on the ground. Maybe I would check on that. As everyone else has already said, once they adjust they usually become attention loving fish. Let us know what happens!!

 

[jhd]

My loaches will eat everything, they constantly search for food. I would give it a week. If they hide, that means they are shy and need time to adjust. Once you see them coming out of the cave, you know they are somewhat adjusted. When you see them not schooling any more but darting around searching for food, they feel secure. This all is only from observation of mine loaches.
One more: when they start fighting among themselves, leave them alone. One of them will emerge as a dominant one, they need to do that.