"2pods" wrote in message
...
Last November I purchased 4 Clown Loaches for my planted 55g tank which
also had 2 Bronze, 1 Albino, and 4 Elegans Corys, 6 Danios, 4 Adult and 3
juvenile Angels, a few Platies, and 2 SAE.

At first the CL's were pretty invisible then started to come out.
After taking up residence in a resin log (about a month later), I would
only see them in pairs (the 2 bigger ones, or the 2 smaller ones).

A month ago it was time to put out the pond fish from my 105g (also
planted), so I moved everyone except for some of the platies down to that.
We have a large resin driftwood piece in the 105g with lots of holes/caves
etc, another of the resin logs that the CL's loved, so I thought they
would go into that.....Wrong !

I hardly see them now. I see one on it's own out and about. I didn't see
the others even at feeding time.
I was so worried after a week I took out the resin driftwood which had to
be half-emptied before the clowns came out, the smallest seemed to have
shrunk to just a head and shrivelled body. This one was eventually found
dead under the filter :-( Al took shelter under the fixed internal filter
(Juwel tank) and after a while disappeared again, I'm assuming, back into
the driftwood.

Could they be getting stuck in the drift wood ?
I don't want to keep stressing them by moving it all the time ?

Peter
I had a similar problem with my 3 clowns, thinking they were stuck in their
castle ornament. In Juwel 260 vision tank, they went under internal filter
when I got them out of castle. Previously, they were out all time, with 3
cories, platies, 3 angels. I added 2 more, 5 out about for some time, then
my first 3 went back to hiding, leaving the 2 new ones under internal
filter. At sametime, 2 of angels starting spawning, leading to uproar in
tank. By now, one of them was really big, 3" round body and 10" tall with
fins. I gave the 2 spawning angels their own tank, removed the other to
Juwel 180, with a new angel for him. The clowns suddenly appeared, out all
the time, added 3 more little ones, and now 5 around 4" and 3 little ones
dominate the tank. Looking back, I think the angels got so big, it
unsettled the clowns. Being the biggest fish now with the 10 female platies
(7 males in own tank, as angels had kept fry population under control)they
have gone from strength to strength, always busy and active, napping at the
front. I also added a plastic large tree trunk in centre which they love,
so they have 3 hiding places, their castle, the treetrunk and under
internal filter.
I don't know if this helps, but clowns are better in bigger groups, love
live bloodworm, they just can't resist it. I use turkey baster to get it
lower to gravel as platies eat so quickly as well, trying to keep them up
and the clowns down as they need more food. In my case it was the angels
stressing them, probably because of their size. My clowns are my favourite
and I will never add another angel to their tank, even when they fall out.
As long as water params are ok, one month in new tank should be enough for
them to settle by now, so just maybe it's the same problem. They are so easy
to stress out, with Ich always possible, that you could try clowns with
platies/cories and see how they get on. Mary