Does my new clown have ich?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
The small clown loach is on NLS Thera A right now as staple and he's learned the last few days to line up near my fingers and wait for the pellet to fall. This has reduced his aggression to minimum during feeding as he gets busy munching the pellet and I can feed the others without the clown chasing them.

Any tips on powerfeeding this guy? I want to get him as large as possible so he won't be bullied by the larger clowns later on?
My intention is daily water changes, also because there are other fry in there that need growing fast too.
I've supplemented him with spirulina wafers, frozen bloodworms and mussles, and frozen red plankton. And I basically drop a very tiny amount of food each time I approach the tank which he eagerly gobbles, so he's been getting very small amounts of food maybe 4-7 times a day...too much?

Also, what age is a 1.5 inch clown loach?
 
That is cool. I love hearing how others care & feed their clowns! Thanks for sharing.

I've fed mostly NLS Thera A+, Hikari Sinking Carnivore, and Hikari Algae wafers. My clowns click on the Hikari Algae wafers too. :)

I plan to branch out and try some other NLS foods. I'd also like to try New Era Tropical Grazer and Catfish. From your experience I'll have to add the New Era plec pellets too. The other thing I'd like to give a go is Repashy Community Plus gel food. I have a long list. :D

I wouldn't feel bad about not feeding them much frozen food, especially if they're not going gang busters over it. I am surprised they're choosing NLS over bloodworms! Smart clowns. ;)
 
evabug1 said:
I am surprised they're choosing NLS over bloodworms! Smart clowns. ;)
Click to expand...

I think this is because when I first bought them, maybe 2.5-3 years ago, it was Nov 2012 I've made a record of them, I didn't feed them any frozen stuff for ages. I had lost of snails and I figured that's enough for "fresh" food as I was feeding them quality dry food. Later on when they wiped out the snails, I started trying frozen food and saw no response and it's been that way from the clown loaches ever since. All I got is extremely fat platies instead.

They prefer their pellets. They do eat the frozen food, but they don't react to it the same way as to the NLS pellets or algae wafers and sometimes they don't even touch frozen food. I then feel sorry for them and drop some pellets as well and the cycle continues. I think if I feed them more frozen food, they'll figure it out and start liking it a lot.

A couple of months ago I ran out of food as my food order got stuck in the post and locally they only sell the cheap filler type of food. I've got to order everything online. All I had was frozen prawns in the freezer. So they ended up being fed chopped prawns for 3-4 weeks and at first they refused to eat it. I suppose hunger took place and they started eating them eventually. It's probably all about what they get used to in the first place.
But my platies and pleco absolutely devoured the prawns at the same time.
 
Coryloach said:
Any tips on powerfeeding this guy? I want to get him as large as possible so he won't be bullied by the larger clowns later on?
My intention is daily water changes, also because there are other fry in there that need growing fast too.
I've supplemented him with spirulina wafers, frozen bloodworms and mussles, and frozen red plankton. And I basically drop a very tiny amount of food each time I approach the tank which he eagerly gobbles, so he's been getting very small amounts of food maybe 4-7 times a day...too much?

Also, what age is a 1.5 inch clown loach?
Click to expand...

It's hard to tell age as it's dependent on different factors. Definitely under a year old. They can grow fairly fast up to 4 or 5". The frequent water changes are going to do more to grow him out. All those foods will definitely help him get bigger faster, especially in combination with the water changes. It's not too much as long as he's gobbling them up and you keep water params in ideal range. I've noticed baby clowns tend to forage constantly compared to the 4" and up range.

It does help to grow them up to a decent size if you have an established group. Won't be bullied necessarily just flat run over lol as they zoom around sometimes.
 
Thanks evabug1. He's a little pig, eats each time I give him food. I am on top with water changes but it's basically small bits more often rather than more food less often as I've done with my other clowns out of laziness. And he's easy to target feed now, he comes waiting near my fingers. We'll see how it goes.
I think he's filling out already since I got him, well at least a bit I hope :)

More videos:
[video=youtube;AJeW-NfjXTM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJeW-NfjXTM&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
Hey again,

Here is my big clown loach doing the "Dance" today. He's so funny. Because of his size he looks quite clumsy doing it :) I think I've got to stop the beer parties...And he's making my other clown loaches look like dwarfs


[video=youtube;1IENzzjkqMc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IENzzjkqMc&feature=youtu.be[/video]

It's hard to believe now that's the same sickly clown loach I picked up a year and a half ago.
 
It's pretty difficult to say. I'll tell you some things I've read. Some sex by looking at the tail (see diagram); males are thought to have more of a "c" shape. Others say that chubbier clown loaches tend to be female and slimmer clowns are male. Another indicator is if you see breeding tubercles on the snout/head of the clown loach, then it's a male. http://aquariumlore.blogspot.com/2008/04/sexing-clown-loaches.html

On the age of a 1.5" clown. I was listening to a radio program today from a guy that raises and bred clowns. He said he can get clowns to that size in 3 to 4 months.

clown loach tail sexing.jpg

clown loach tail sexing.jpg
 
Thanks. I was going by "chubbiness" mostly :). I always thought the big one is a male for some reason. I'll watch out for the tubercles.
So the little guy I have could be just less than half a year old. He hasn't seen much of the real world I suppose, poor thing.

I think the little tank is clear of ich. I haven't seen any signs of it in ages and the water is almost completely changed down to fresh, the temperature is down to 27C. I hope all will be well from now on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom