It's sad the advice some LFS give, but the taking the water from the bottom
of the tank is bad... It's assumed that you have a filter, and also it's
assumed it creates a circulation.... so I can't figure how, in the world,
can the water on the bottom of a tank be any different than water from the
top of a tank.... I'd be shopping for a new store, or go back and correcting
the mislead person....

secondly, you may have got just a lonely clown... since they don't like
being alone, 1 would just wither away without a companion.... maybe waiting
a week isnt' a bad idea, just for the fact that you've had a death and it
may have polluted the tank just a tad, but do a water change and vacuum as
normal, wait a few days and go get no less than 2, maybe 3, but only if they
are full bellied and not less than 1.5" in size... smaller clowns don't
acclimate as well...

Suggestion on acclimation
float bag for around 1 hour...
during that hour, maybe 15min. later, open bag and put in a cup of your tank
water....sealing the bag
15min later, do it again..... after that, you're probably ok....

Acclimation give some time for water temp changes during transport, since
they don't have a heater, I take a cooler and put warm water in it to 'warm
it up' but of course take the water out when you go get the fish....
a cooler is also a good thing to use, it's dark and it's a controlled
temperature.. atleast it CAN be....


Also, if I do get another loach would it be ok to add two fish at
once? Or should I wait a week or so in between adding fish to make
sure the tank doesn't cycle again?

Sarah

"Poe Lim" wrote in message
.au...
"NetMax" wrote in message
.. .

There really isn't any 'normal' representative behaviour of a fish
when
it has just been introduced to a new environment (other than acting
fearful). Loaches do lie on their sides sometimes, but I wouldn't
read
too much into it for now. It's probably anxious to find more of his
kind, as they are very social creatures which would not do
particularly
well alone. JMO

How long do they usually take to get use to the new environment? I've
just
introduced three into a tetra tank last weekend (to look after some
snails),
and they seem to be hiding a lot. Any suggestions as to getting them out
into the open?

Cheers,
Poe