FishNoob wrote:
I put three clown loaches into my tank yesterday. Granted, the snail
problem wasn't a major one - but there's not a snail to be seen now!
Those critters are *efficient* LOL

And they are such characters - I can really see why people get hooked
on them. They've been having a thoroughly good time exploring all the
nooks and crannies in my tank - and you can *tell* they're having fun
just by watching them :-)

Now... as to the rest - who was it posted here a few weeks ago about
spotted blue-eyes? They are *pretty*! And guess what the store had
yesterday... so yep, we've a few of those in there too now.

As for the quarantine. Yes, well, hm, er... I planned to set up the
quarantine tank in the morning with the water and heater, let it run
through the day while I was out, then move the filter right before I
added the fish. And that would have been a great plan, if I'd been
able to find the tank! Turns out hubby stashed it on top of a
cupboard in the garage. At least now I know where it is, even if I
can't lift it down LOL

I could have put off going to the LFS, but eldest son was looking
forward to it (he'd been waiting patiently since November, remember),
and I really wanted to go on a weekday so I could take the time to
chat with the staff and look around plenty while they weren't busy.
Having done that, though, I'm not too worried about putting the fish
from there straight into my tank. Fingers crossed.


I love them to bits as well - you might have noticed :-)

Keep a close eye on them for any sign of ich (whitespot) - if they get
it you will have to treat the whole tank and the treatments available in
the UK are a bit more limited than in the US. Chances are that they will
settle better in your main tank than in a QT tank....

Don't get alarmed if you see them lying on their backs on the substrate
- they sleep this way. You may also see them lying in a heap on top of
one another - this is also normal. You will also sometimes hear very
loud clicking noises - it will be the Clowns. Another thing you might
notice is a bit of pushing and what is known as "greying" - the colour
might almost seem to drain out of them - this is part of them
establishing their hierarchy...they have nothing but contempt for your
other fish - so don't worry about that either...Feed them occassionally
with frozen bloodworm, catfish pellets, cucumber (or courgette) as well
as the usual flake stuff.

Cucumber can be a funny one to watch. I tend to cut off a chunk, stab it
with a knife, thread through a plant weight and drop it in the tank.
Clowns will often go mad for it - one of the funniest things I saw was
them hollowing out enough to swim through it...they played for hours...

A good source of info on Clowns can be found at:

www.loaches.com

Gill

BTW

Do you mean Blue Eyed Gertrudes? Dinky fish around 1cm big but very
pretty with almost glow in the dark blue eyes...if yes, it was me...