My boyfriend and I have four or five clown loaches all around 3-4" and all do fine together until feeding time. The instant food hits the water the biggest of the loaches turns into a bully and chases the others off. We're worried that the others might not be getting enough to eat, we tried feeding more but that did no good and we're hesitant to move the skinner of them in order to fatten them up. Are we worrying over nothing? Is there anything we can do to stop the bullying?
Clown bully
- Thread starter losertastictoaster
- Start date
I think my clowns need to be dominated. I will sacrifice and let him come live with me... 
jk
What is the size difference between the bully and the others? What if you spread the food out over the tank, still no luck?
jkWhat is the size difference between the bully and the others? What if you spread the food out over the tank, still no luck?
The bigger of the loaches is 4" so not larger then the others but more like he's fatter. We've tried spreading food out across the tank and he zooms around scooping up as much as he can and pushing the other loaches out of the way. We first thought it was him being king loach and eating his fill first so we tried adding a little more to see if he would leave the others alone once he had eaten but to no avail. He still bully's the others away from the food.
Try giving a different food, maybe like a few chunks of shrimp. I have a piggy that tends to hoard food under our knife's tube, and will click to make the others go away. I thought my tank was leaking when I first heard that!! Maybe with a chunk of shrimp like that, it will take him longer to work on that, giving the others some time to eat.
Besides spreading it out, I also use the distraction method. My shoals get both floating & sinking food each feeding, so I throw in whatever sinking food is on their schedule that day, then the floating type. That way the big boys rocket to the bottom for the big stuff & the little guys can feed at the top. If the big guys head up top, the little guys will just switch spots with them. Thawing frozen bloodworms in a cup of water helps too. When you dump the bloodworms in, its pure chaos for about 30 seconds & everybody gets a few pieces.
JakeH;4091491; said:
bloodworms = loach crack I don't thaw mine. My discus love to chase the cube around and the knock free floaters around. Then the swarm of loaches surrounds them lol.
Thank you. I think we'll see how bloodworms go over. We already have some as food for my puffer so we won't have to run out to try and find something else for them. Thanks all for the help.
Our main concern is that one of our loaches is very thin. He's about the same length as the others but is many times smaller. His organs are faintly visible through the skin and he looks almost transparent. Could he have something or should we just move him and try to fatten him up?
Some loaches can have skinny disease. I would remove him and put him in his own quarantine tank for a few weeks. Give him a variety of foods high in protein. Fatten him up then he will be fine once mixed back in with the shoal. If it is skinny disease, you will want to treat that. Is he still active? I know with them, sometimes we catch it too late and they can't recover.