New Clown Loach

I added a clown loach to my tank this evening. I'm curious as to
whether it's acting normally or not. It seems to do a lot of laying
on its side in some corner or another. It is alive because I see it
moving every once in a while but I'm not used to fish just laying on
the bottom.

When I first put him in a few hours ago he laid under a decoration and
shook every once in a while. It kinda looked like he was having a
siezure. Is this normal for clown loaches?

The tank is cycled and well airated with only 1 platy and 2 larger
sixed fry.

"Sarah" wrote in message
m...
I added a clown loach to my tank this evening. I'm curious as to
whether it's acting normally or not. It seems to do a lot of laying
on its side in some corner or another. It is alive because I see it
moving every once in a while but I'm not used to fish just laying on
the bottom.

When I first put him in a few hours ago he laid under a decoration and
shook every once in a while. It kinda looked like he was having a
siezure. Is this normal for clown loaches?

The tank is cycled and well airated with only 1 platy and 2 larger
sixed fry.

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

I'm assuming your water parameters were not too different, and the
temperature was the same by the time you released him into the tank.

NetMax

Max is right about the loach needing company. They will just pine away
with out it. I have even heard that they will school with tiger barbs.
Get him a friend or two and he will be fine.

Vicki

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 00:53:05 -0400 (EDT), ~Vicki ~ wrote:
Max is right about the loach needing company. They will just pine away
with out it. I have even heard that they will school with tiger barbs.

Mine school with anything stripey! This includes tiger barbs

Instead of a community tank with carefully matched fish which all
enjoy the same water parameters and get along well, how about a
stripey tank, a spotted tank, and a plain colour tank!

(Kidding. The loaches are funny though.)

--
Flash Wilson
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Hard, fast, long. Pick two" - Mike Bristow
[Programmers - please don't apply development criteria to sex!]

"Flash Wilson" wrote
Instead of a community tank with carefully matched fish which all
enjoy the same water parameters and get along well, how about a
stripey tank, a spotted tank, and a plain colour tank!

That's not so daft as it sounds.
Picking fish that match/complement either in colour or markings
can create a very pleasing effect. Especially in a planted tank.
Of course your first point about matching water parameters etc
still must hold good.

--
Graham Ramsay
You might be a Bright:
www.the-brights.net

"Graham Ramsay" wrote in message ...
"Flash Wilson" wrote
Instead of a community tank with carefully matched fish which all
enjoy the same water parameters and get along well, how about a
stripey tank, a spotted tank, and a plain colour tank!

That's not so daft as it sounds.
Picking fish that match/complement either in colour or markings
can create a very pleasing effect. Especially in a planted tank.
Of course your first point about matching water parameters etc
still must hold good.

I am planning on getting him som buddies (at least two more) but since
it's a small tank I didn't want to introduce them all at once. I
figured I'd introduce another little guy next weekend. Thanks for
your help.

"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

You really should have at least 3 clown loaches, 6 would be better. They
don't do well alone.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

My new clown loach is dead. He was laying in a corner of the tank
this morning on his side but I could still see his gills moving. I
went home at lunchtime to check on him and found him dead. It looked
like he'd been dead a few hours.

I decided to take him and a water sample back to the LFS since it's
been less than 24 hours since I brought him home and put him in my
tank. The girl working at the counter was the same one that sold me
the fish yesterday so she was just going to give me a new fish without
testing the water. I insisted that she test it since I don't want to
kill another fish. pH was 7.2, ammonia 0, nitrite 0.

When I got to the counter the manager said that I should have taken a
water sample from the bottom of the tank (I took mine from the top 1/3
of the water column) and that she didn't think it was a good idea to
get another loach.

I clean the gravel and change 20% of the water every week. The tanks
I have are only 5 gallons so I test the water parameters every 3-4
days to make sure everything is fine. All my tanks are cycled. The
tank the loach was in only has one platy and 3 platy fry (I saw
another one this morning). Is there anything else I should be doing?
Should I be testing the water from the bottom of the tank, near the
gravel? Should I follow this woman's advice and not get another
loach? I don't want to kill another fishy.

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

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