Is this normal behavior?

[Alral1988]

I've got 3 clown loaches in my tank and one of them has been doing something a little funny. I often catch him sitting right at the top of the water like this. Is this something they do normally? I always thought they were mostly bottom to mid dwellers. Has anyone seen this behavior before?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Can you check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH readings in the tank? Fish hanging at the surface like that can indicate poor water conditions. Also what size tank, tank mates and PWC schedule?

 

[aqua_chem]

He might be eating surface scum. Dunno if loaches do that.

 

[Alral1988]

Water parameters are perfect. 0 nitrates nitrites and ammonia. Currently it's a 55, upgrading to 75 soon. Tank mates include dwarf gourami, Bol rams, and an African leaf fish. All fish are 2 in or smaller and have shown 0 aggression. I've only had these guys about two weeks so I haven't done a water change with them in it yet.

 

[librarygirl]

Water parameters are perfect. 0 nitrates nitrites and ammonia. Currently it's a 55, upgrading to 75 soon. Tank mates include dwarf gourami, Bol rams, and an African leaf fish. All fish are 2 in or smaller and have shown 0 aggression. I've only had these guys about two weeks so I haven't done a water change with them in it yet.

Are you using test strips or a liquid kit? In a fully cycled tank you should be seeing some nitrate. Also two weeks without a water change is rather long IMO; fish use up buffers and minerals in the water that need to be replaced.

Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish or is the tank 2 weeks old with fish in it? There's a link below in my signature called: guide to starting a fW aquarium. THe first thing it covers is cycling; you may want to give it a read

 

[Alral1988]

I used the liquid kit. To my understanding under a certain point it always shows 0. The reason I only do water changes every two weeks is because I have a very nice filtration system on the tank. I've been doing this for several years and I am very familiar with tank cycling