clown loach died after a couple of hours

[3Corsameal]

i purchased three and introduced them to the tank on saturday, they seemed a bit scared and timid, and they liked to hide.

whenever i walk into the room they dart about really quickly and one swam into the glass and i can only describe it as bursting his head.

He didn't look well, so i fished him out and noticed blood in his head and bone sticking out of the side of his head.

r they naturally quite shy fish, should i buy em a cave to hide in?

 

[Allivymar]

Absolutely. When I QT my clown loaches, I always make sure there is a ceramic log for them to hide in. Clowns are especially skittish initially as they are all wild caught, and need a place to feel safe and secure.

 

[Terry]

Sorry to here about your clown loach.

They are a very nervous fish. It would be a great idea to put some hideing places for them in your tank. like allivymar said they are very skittish, but after a short while they should settle down.

 

[cdawson]

You can't keep clown loaches in a small tank, unless you've got them in a mid-high range tank,take them back to the store. These fish get to about 16" when fully grown. They do take awhile to reach that size, however you still can't keep even a small clown loach in a small tank. Clown loaches are very active fish and require alot of room to swim around. The fact that you just bought the tank and it's not even cycled yet will stress the fish out even more. For the first six weeks of having your tank get a guppy or two to cycled the tank or go the fishless route and use pure ammonia.
You need to cycle a tank before you can put any fish into it, otherwise you'll have problems for months to come. By then you'll be so fed up you probably will be too discouraged to try again.

 

[saberry]

Really???

16"? I've seen some pretty large clown loaches but never that large. I have a friend who had some clowns in a 125 gal tank and they got about 8 - 10" after several years. I think 16" would have to be the exception. Liveaquaria.com says they grow up to 1' - still, you don't want too small a tank. I had a few my last tank - a 29 gal and they did quite well.

 

[coolkidthatlike]

wel, that answers my question about why mine was always hiding. it kinda frusterates me... i havent seen him for like a week, he has always been in my large rock decoration. Dont worry, i checked today and he was still alive. Funny, though. My other clown loach never is in hiding, maybe a personality thing. One more question though. I bout a pictus cat today, and i noticed that he swims up and down the side of my tank. My brother had black fin cats, and they did the same thing. Is this a thing that catfish do or what? Just curious.

 

[cdawson]

That means your fish are bored...I'm not kidding...they really are. =)
It means your tank setup isn't complex enough to keep them busy all the time. They go through it your rock structure and such and then they're like "hmm...that was boring. Let's go see what's over there!" and when they get to the end of the tank they keep on trying to see what else there is even further on. However there's the end of the tank and they just swim up and down the glass thinking they're making progress.

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, i dont know how much 5more complex i can get. I have 1 large rock thing, 1 real plant, 4 fake plants (one is really neat and twisted with a bunch of loops my other fish like to swim through. It is actually really packed in with decorations. if i was a fish i would go nuts in there. lol. are you sure it is because they are bored.

 

[3Corsameal]

cheers, for all the comments, the other two seem fine, they still a bit nervous but they look happy.

Tank is 24" x 12" x 12" thats, 12.5 UK gallons.

I have got three rock type ornamets and 5 plants, so is quite decorated.

the loaches are only 2" long at the moment.

Tank was set up 10 days before the fish were introduced and was an old tank, not brand new.