One of my clown loaches has disapeared

[Sebastienb]

I'm not sure what happened but I can't find one of my 3 clown loaches. He has been missing in my tank all afternoon and the 2 others are very active. I did a water change today but there is no way I sucked him out. Maybe he is hiding in the driftwood. I hope he's not dead and floating inside the driftwood :-(

 

[Zagz]

They like to burrow under the sand. Do you have sand or gravel substrate?

 

[Sebastienb]

I have mostly gravel with part of the tank with sand. I can't see anything in the sand

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Your going to have to check every nook and cranny anywhere. They can fit into tiny holes or cracks and get stuck. Any driftwood, decoration, anything.

 

[Sebastienb]

Your going to have to check every nook and cranny anywhere. They can fit into tiny holes or cracks and get stuck. Any driftwood, decoration, anything.

Should I check ? I'm afraid of hurting him or he others. I lifted one of the driftwoods and he wasn't there. I have another longer piece that I should probably check.

 

[Zagz]

Check under everything. They ar very good at hiding.

 

[Zimmanski]

How big is the CL? Mine like to hide during the day and are most active in the morning and late evening, this has become more true as mine age. And don't freak out if you see them laying on their sides, its what they do and nothing is wrong with them, freaks me out every time though. My bet is you'll see your CL tomorrow when you put food in, they're gluttons as I'm sure you know. They can, as said above, get stuck in things as they grow, they like to claim a cave and don't realize when they've out grown it. Best to upgrade their "houses" before that's an issue. If you don't find him tomorrow start looking in hide outs and look closely, they seem to hang on to things even when you're moving them around

 

[Cynic]

They are insanely good at squeezing into little gaps. Honestly I wouldn't stress till it's been gone for a week. If you do want to find it lift and shake gently every ornament/driftwood ABOVE the tank. The amount of times I removed everything from my tank to find a clown loach only to look back and see one flopping madly on the towel was just amazing. If one falls out of the tank pick it up using a clean towel as A - they're scaleless so vulnerable to our skin and B - the little pricks will stab you with their eye spears.

Far too much experience here

 

[Sebastienb]

As you guys predicted little guy showed up this morning. At first i felt bad for moving all the driftwood around the tank but on the upside my elephant nose (smoke) is now hiding and the plants instead of the driftwood so i get to see him more often.