Clown Loaches not acclimating

[knobhill]

Hi everyone,
Last week I picked up 32 clown loaches @1.5-2" for $125. They are in a 20g quarantine tank with a baby arowana. Water parameters are good (10ppm nitrate, 0 nitrite/ammonia), pH of 6.8, temp of 86f. 25% water change daily.

I have two main issues with them: feeding and hiding

Their eating habits are a little troublesome. I feed them a cube of frozen bw each day, they rarely finish a cube. I have stuck in some cucumber, zuchini, and mussel--they won't eat that. While the ones I see are round, it doesn't seem like they are getting enough food. They are all camped out in a large piece of driftwood and I can hear them crunching on it... can they be eating the driftwood and does it have nutritional value for them?

On to the hiding....as i mentioned, I have a piece of driftwood that all 32 of them are calling home. It is a very narrow hollowed out piece with several exits. It is hard to tell but it seems like the clan is doing some construction and hollowing it out even more (I have found a couple slivers of driftwood with circular holes about the size of their little mouths!).

They never leave the wood at the same time. I am lucky to see a group of 6-8 come out to feed on the bw cubes. Every once in a while, I see the a little more than half the clan come out to explore. Is this what type of behavior I should expect? I would really like to make them more friendly.

any suggestions or adivce would be appreciated....

 

[DDFishPets]

Is the tank on the floor? If so, the rumbling of footsteps bothers them quite heavily. Add about 1 tsp of salt per gallon to your tank and chop up some garlic and soak your foods in that before feeding them. Also, the 25% water change daily might be a bit stressing for them, maybe once every 2 days is already fine as is or even once a week if possible.
Also, do any of them look unusually skinny or dull in coloration (excluding dominant ones)

 

[knobhill]

Is the tank on the floor? If so, the rumbling of footsteps bothers them quite heavily. Add about 1 tsp of salt per gallon to your tank and chop up some garlic and soak your foods in that before feeding them. Also, the 25% water change daily might be a bit stressing for them, maybe once every 2 days is already fine as is or even once a week if possible.
Also, do any of them look unusually skinny or dull in coloration (excluding dominant ones)

The tank is on a 1/2" piece of foam on a bookcase which is on a tile floor. Salt has been added already. None of them are skinny, some are a little dull from time to time. I am also going to keep the lights off for a few days, will try the garlic soak with some cucumber tonight.
thanks

 

[Crispy]

A 40-55g tank might make then explore more. Even more hiding spots may draw out larger groups. Make them feel secure and they will be out.

 

[JakeH]

A 40-55g tank might make then explore more. Even more hiding spots may draw out larger groups. Make them feel secure and they will be out.

Agreed. They'll loosen up once they get some room to stretch out & work out their group dynamics. They're still trying to get their pecking order worked out right now. If you want to see them more, give them plenty of shady hiding spots like overhangs or under hollow coconut husks or in pvc tubes. If that hollow driftwood is the only dark spot in the tank, thats where they're gonna rest 90% of the day. They just dont like bright lights. If they have several shady spots in easy reach, they will be on the move constantly, especially with a shoal that size! Another trick is to add a drop of garlic juice to the water. They'll be goin nuts in under a minute. Moonlights are a good idea too. They will be very active after the lights go out & thats the only way you'll be able to see them at play. However, I STRONGLY disagree with adding salt to their tank, unless you're treating for Ick.

 

[knobhill]

Update:
Soaked cucumber in garlic, they ate about half over night and then the rest the following night.

Slowly, they are getting more comfortable with their tank.

I will add more shady spots for them in the tank.

All: please keep in mind that this is a quarantine tank--only a temporary home until they go into a 175g with lots of hiding spaces. While it is unfortunate that I don't have a spare 40g tank for them, they will be going to a much larger home. The salt was an ich preventative, it is gradually being phased out with water changes.

Now on to proactive/preventative treatment of parasites:
I'm not sure they have any (all fish carry some). I was going to use Jungle tank buddies parasite clear with Metrodiazonle to treat just in case. I am a little gun shy about using levamisole--directions/dosage/baths seem unclear to me. Any thoughs about treating these guys for parasite/skinny disease?

 

[redinfinity]

Sounds normal to me. My loaches were all very shy the first few weeks. I'd be reluctant to do any treatment if you dont see anything pop up on them during the quarantine period. For skinny disease I think food soaked in garlic works.

 

[juice604]

maybe a bigger tank may help ?

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Yea, once they're out of their 20 g Q tank and into a bigger tank they'll act like different fish. My Loaches always hide in their quarantine tank. It's just too small for them to really get going.

 

[knobhill]

thanks guys, they seem to be acclimating. They will come out for frozen bw now!