slippery slimecoat
I am also using chopped shrimp. Almost pounded shrimp. The small clowns can't eat fast enough. I have the pellets and they eat it. But it takes awhile and they still prefer the shrimp. I leave the pellets and they are gone by morning. My small ones are always hungry and eating grazingClown not eating "not skinny disease"
- Thread starter follen
- Start date
slippery slimecoat
I am also using chopped shrimp. Almost pounded shrimp. The small clowns can't eat fast enough. I have the pellets and they eat it. But it takes awhile and they still prefer the shrimp. I leave the pellets and they are gone by morning. My small ones are always hungry and eating grazing
A few years ago I bought a clown loach that was signifficantly bigger (well 2 inches most but looked larger) than the group I had. He was a return by someone to the fish shop and most probably had been kept alone for years. He had a hard time integrating into my small group of 5. For the first year I rarely saw him dancing with the rest. He'd in fact wait for them to go to bed and then come out and do flips on his own. He also claimed a separate cave and at least 2 if not 3 years slept alone although there was plenty of space in the hollow tree the rest stayed in. When I moved them to another tank, I put his cave right in front the front glass to tank to discourage him to go in there. He still found it and he moved it himself towards the back, he was that stubborn at sleeping alone. Roll forward 4 years, he's now a very well integrated member of the group, sleeps in a large pvc pipe with the rest. He is the largest and the most outgoing loach of the lot, handfeeding and the likes. However, the only reason he joined the rest is because he can't fit into his old bed anymore, not lenght wise or girth wise 
Stubborn loach
It seems to me larger loaches may not integrate that fast, even though mine had no peer and fought with no one. And even the new baby loaches I bought in a couple of batches took a couple of weeks to stop straying from the established school. They initially keep to their own and its not love from first sight.
As far as food goes, clown loaches are able to withstand very long periods of starvation. There was a study done on baby clowns on that matter..., but if a fish is not eating for a month, there's something more than depression going on. It could be worms, it could be hard time getting used to your water. An excessive amount of water changes may perk up a sick fish. Also, the initial squabbles with your other loaches may have triggered some parasites/worms to take over so it is a good idea to deworm as smjack suggested.
Stubborn loach It seems to me larger loaches may not integrate that fast, even though mine had no peer and fought with no one. And even the new baby loaches I bought in a couple of batches took a couple of weeks to stop straying from the established school. They initially keep to their own and its not love from first sight.
As far as food goes, clown loaches are able to withstand very long periods of starvation. There was a study done on baby clowns on that matter..., but if a fish is not eating for a month, there's something more than depression going on. It could be worms, it could be hard time getting used to your water. An excessive amount of water changes may perk up a sick fish. Also, the initial squabbles with your other loaches may have triggered some parasites/worms to take over so it is a good idea to deworm as smjack suggested.
Follen have you tried pounding shrimp into a paste and feeding it. Try it out first and tell us how it goes. This is the instructions.
I slice the shrimp with a knife then I use the back of a cleaver to pound it. Some and vitamins but do it in a later date and slowly. You can and white fish ( intestines remove - might have worms) too. Remember that they like the smell of the shrimp more ok?
21 clowns all eat NLS Thera 1mm as staple and once a week get blood worms. They'll eat my plecos algaemax tabs and destroy zucchini/cucumber. Never any food left in fact they've helped get my BGK off blood worms and he'll eat pellets now because that's the only food he can get to lol.
Instead of deworming, treating for hex/spiro, or offering frozen foods, personally I would just allow the new kid on the block a chance to acclimatize to his new environment. With older more mature fish this can take much longer than younger fish, whether wild caught or domesticated in country.
