Feeding Clown Loaches.

[CRAIG1591]

About a week ago I added 6x 1.25 inch clown loaches to my 3 foot cichlid tank which has become my grow out/ quarantine tank before they are moved to the 8x3.5x3. I currently have the loaches in the 3 foot with 3 Electric Yellow, Yellow Tail Acei and 2 Electric Blue. I have been trying to "bulk" the loaches up a bit by feeding 2 times daily, but the cichlids seem to be getting 70% and the loaches get whatever falls to the substrate. I have been adding a 0.5 inch thick piece of zucchini every 12 hours, which they eat about 20%. I have tried adding sinking wafers and the loaches seem interested in it for about 1 minute and then contiune to search the substrate for leftovers, meanwhile one of the electric blues will have picked up the wafer and taken it away. I have tried mosquito larvae and frozen brine shrimp,of which the loaches get a few each before the cichlids begin to feast.
*Is a few NLS pellets (1mm cichlid and 0.35mm grow) and some zucchini enough to sustain my loaches?
*Anyone got any tips for feeding loaches in a community setting?
*Is it normal for clown's to contiune to look for scraps of food for 1/2 an hour after feeding? Does this behaviour mean I am not feeding enough?
*Any other foods loaches will eat I haven't tried?
*I drip acclimated the loaches over 2 hours, and as of yet I have no signs of ich after 1 week of keeping them at 27.8 - 28 degrees. Is this long enough to avoid ich and is it safe to lower the temp??
*The loaches seem to be always on the move in a school together and only stop/slow down to search for food. Is this normal behaviour??
*Is it OK to drop a supermarket un-cooked de-shelled prawn into my tank for my loaches?
*Any other advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks Craig

BTW. The 8x3.5x3 contains 31x 3-inch Boesmani Rainbows,19 Rummy Nose, 6x 1-inch German Blue Rams, 4x SAE, 22x Cardinal Tetras. I am really hoping these are suitable tankmates??

 

[justin guest]

*Is a few NLS pellets (1mm cichlid and 0.35mm grow) and some zucchini enough to sustain my loaches?
*Anyone got any tips for feeding loaches in a community setting?
*Is it normal for clown's to contiune to look for scraps of food for 1/2 an hour after feeding? Does this behaviour mean I am not feeding enough?
*Any other foods loaches will eat I haven't tried?
*I drip acclimated the loaches over 2 hours, and as of yet I have no signs of ich after 1 week of keeping them at 27.8 - 28 degrees. Is this long enough to avoid ich and is it safe to lower the temp??
*The loaches seem to be always on the move in a school together and only stop/slow down to search for food. Is this normal behaviour??
*Is it OK to drop a supermarket un-cooked de-shelled prawn into my tank for my loaches?
*Any other advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks Craig

BTW. The 8x3.5x3 contains 31x 3-inch Boesmani Rainbows,19 Rummy Nose, 6x 1-inch German Blue Rams, 4x SAE, 22x Cardinal Tetras. I am really hoping these are suitable tankmates??

It seems like your doing almost everything right. The temp. should stay where it is for another week just to be sure. The behaviour of the loaches seems to be normal. The future tankmates should also be fine. if you want to bulk up the loaches a bit more add some more protein to their diet. I find Mussel meat to be the best as it also gets the loaches' appetites going. Just throw in a large piece so the other fish can't carry it off but only so large that the mussel is picked clean in about 10 minutes. remove any rubbery mussel pieces left after the ten minutes is up. The Prawn idea is also good but remove any uneaten prawn after ten minutes otherwise the water will go bad. If feeding high protein diets be prepared to do more frequent water changes though as the extra food will load the system more.

j<><

 

[CRAIG1591]

Thanks Justin. Anyone else got any ideas??

 

[JakeH]

Well first I will agree with Justin's post. Sounds like you're on the right track & your loaches are behaving normally. Once they get totally settled in another week or so, they will start to "impose their will" on the cichlids. They wont hurt them, but they will use their speed, agility & shoaling to get the food they want. They're just still a bit shy. They have insatiable, voracious appetites & will eat almost constantly, so dont worry about the scavenging. High protein & supplemental garlic will make them super strong.

 

[CRAIG1591]

Thanks.

 

[CRAIG1591]

Anyone had any luck breeding snails specifically for loaches to eat? Got any good articles/sites? I seem to have a few Ramshron and Malaysian Trumpet snails in my 8x3.5x3 and I'm considering taking them out and putting them into a small 2 gallon container, adding some flake food and seeing what happens. What do you guys reckon about that??

 

[CRAIG1591]

BUMP

 

[RD.]

Raised on an exclusive diet of 1mm NLS. Approx. 6" when the pic below was taken.

 

[CRAIG1591]

Nice loach RD.
Here are some pics of mine:
Sorry in advance for the very, very poor quality photos. It is really hard to get decent photos of the loaches as they are never still. Doesn't help that I only have a crappy camera.

 

[Musha]

Im a Clown Loach Fan/Noob myself so Im eyeballing your post bro. Im all over it. Great info everyonr and thanks Craig for beating me to making this thread. Keep up the good work.