My Clown Loachs Are Missing

[Mr Pleco]

Ok. I had 7 clown loachs, but only 3 remain. I am preplexed. The 2 pics below best describe size relations between the 7 clown loachs. I believe that my 3 clown loachs ate the other 4.:confused: Could this be true.:confused: I now I am not losing it and that there are no Clown Loach bodies around the stand of the fish tank. Not one thing remains no trace what so ever except this pics.:screwy: I don't think that the mouths were that big and they eat their own kind. I am pissed:swear: All of my small ones are missing, even in the first pic that one is missing too(the small one 3").:confused: In the 2 pic you can see the tail of the big 10" hanging out of the cave on the right side.

Here are the pics. and came to think of it, this video I took on Sunday the clown loach does look like he is thanking me for the nice meal over the weekend.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=21602&size=1


http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=21601&size=1


http://media.putfile.com/Clown-Loach


Has this happen to anyone else?

[slikchica1]

I apologize I cant give you an answer, but I started out with 6 clown loaches and ended up with 3 never finding remains of the others. I had a small 4" synodontis that I shuffled between him or the other clowns eating the remains.

[Honda12]

I doubt they ate it, they probably just hideing. I had one get into my filter befor. No Idea how it did but it did. It was a live too.

[Mr Pleco]

I tore the tank apart. moved the bigs ones to a 125, look in ever area that they could be not hiding

[Honda12]

No idea, still don't think they would eat them, but it is possible.

[kody1192]

first off what else is in the tank with the loaches? is there any hiding places they could be like that driftwood mine cram themselves into the back of my driftwood sometimes. if you got a hob filter check in there do a waterchange and check all over your tank they can fit in anything.
guess you already did all this(everything was posted well i was typin)

[Mr Pleco]

first off what else is in the tank with the loaches? is there any hiding places they could be like that driftwood mine cram themselves into the back of my driftwood sometimes. if you got a hob filter check in there do a waterchange and check all over your tank they can fit in anything.


No other fish in there could eat them. The wood I have has no holes. in it, the cave is made with slate rocks and the other part of the cave I have examine. I check the filters. Have a Magnum 350,Magnum 250 and AquaClear110. Here is what was in the tank All fish are small except the Green Severum(5")1 Blood Parrot(6")does not have the mouth or speed to catch them. It had to be the loachs.

7 Clown Loachs (2"-10"), 3 Gold Severums, 1 Green Severum, 2 Blood Parrots(1-7"),3 Angel Fish, L-191,L-200,L-91,L-27

[kody1192]

guess it is a mystrey then

[dannyboy]

maybe one of your mates (not a very good one) took them thinking you would think they got eaten

[Jeox]

jumped out and something ate them off the floor?

[fisher12889]

I once had a pair of convicts about 2-3" tear apart and eat a 3" silver aro, so the cichlids may have eaten it. In my experience, clown loaches arent aggressive at all so I dont think they would have eaten the others. Or maybe like Jeox said they jumped to the floor and a dog or cat ate them?

[cichlid savage]

My CKF crammed himself into a deco i had in his tank. I thought my aro har eaten him but their sizes were too close. Check everything and check it twice.

[fisher12889]

My CKF crammed himself into a deco i had in his tank. I thought my aro har eaten him but their sizes were too close. Check everything and check it twice.
Definately. I had a clown loach "dissapear" for several days. I looked high and low and eventually gave up, but I saw him a few days later lol

[guppy]

I have never seen a clown loach eat another clown but maybe the big one did, I have had "missing" clowns that had buried themselves in the gravel.

[Steve_89]

I doubt the others ate them.

[bmxer4ever]

Clown Loach Mystery?

Clowns will devour dead fish if they're hungry. My liitle baby 1 1/2 inch Clowns had finished off half of a male Platy overnight. (He'd been bullied to death by another male)
Who knows what really big ones like yours would do if they wanted a snack!
I agrees with other MFKs that they are not usually aggressive, but my big 6 inch Clown clicks and bumps all the smaller ones out the way when its sinking pellet time.... if the Distichodus hasn't eaten them all on the way down ...!

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one.....

[Mr Pleco]

I checked this morning, again. Nothing turned up. I look through the gravel with my hand. everywhere, checked the one cave I have. Moved plants, checked filters. I have a cat, but my door is always closed to prevent the cat from going to the bathroom in my room. Not in any of the filters.

:swear:

[ewurm]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Issue an amber alert.

[thatonegirl]

I lost 5 clowns in my tank when I had an internal bacterial infection that killed a fish I didn't immediately remove. The dead fish was scavanged and the infection was transferred. On top of losing my 5 CLs, I also lost 2 cories, an oto, 14 neons, and two rams (one of which brought the infection. :swear: ) However, I originally thought I lost 6 CLs and one was just a very, very good hider. Granted, mine were only about 2.5" at the time.

[fisher12889]

Maybe it it died and it got eaten by the others

[bmxer4ever]

There is another slim possibility regarding your missing Clowns....... but it is a long shot.
Although I've still never heard of Clowns breeding in aquaria, one of the reported behavioural symptoms of Clowns preparing to spawn is aggression to the point of killing and eating their tankmates.....
Have you got a REALLY big male and female...?

I know it's a long shot, but it's the only other explanation I can think of.

[Mr Pleco]

Well, I looked again through the whole tank and nothing. The only thing I found was a piece of a fin that was red buried under some gravel. So I took my hand and dug in the tank and nothing else. I mean for 4 to jump out and get eattin by a cat is odd. 1 or 2 but 4 come on. Secondly nothing in the filters. I will try to get a pic but one of the big ones still has a bulge on its side

[Nic]

i had a cat fish eat my clowns before

[fisher12889]

What other fish are in the tank? One of them may have eaten it after it died or something?

[Mr Pleco]

What other fish are in the tank? One of them may have eaten it after it died or something?


7 Clown Loachs (2"-10"), 3 Gold Severums, 1 Green Severum, 2 Blood Parrots(1-7"),3 Angel Fish, L-191,L-200,L-91,L-27

[fisher12889]

Plecos sometimes eat dead fish, so my best guess would be that they died and the other fish nibbled at them until they were gone. That might explain the piece of red fin that you found...