I have a 220 gallon tank with a nice pack of 12 clowns between 4-6 inches. Some I’ve had for 8-9 years, others slowly added when I see bigger ones in a local store..... I have noticed that I see loaches in stores etc, and their colors much more vibrant, with red fins and tails. Mine seem to be “washed out” with dull fins... I purchased a few maybe two months ago and they were initially beautiful, but also have lost their red fins. They are all fat fish, just not colorful. Tank parameters fine, Denison barbs and two catfish are tankmates, fed daily frozen bloodworms, flakes....what am I doing wrong??
Help with clowns...fish losing red color in fins...
- Thread starter wg666666
- Start date
Clown loaches colour fades with age, you could try colour enhancing food but the colour of the clown loaches really depends on where they were caugh, I have some 2” clowns with faded colour and a 4” clown with really bright vibrant colour
Apart from looking into your water quality and maintenance habits, it could be the food you're feeding. I've had the opposite experience, buying washed out clown loaches that improve their colour after a few months. I feed mine pellets, new life spectrum and occasional frozen food.
could be lighting?
for mines, ,when the light is dimmed the colors are more pronounced and they are washed out when the lights are bright.
for mines, ,when the light is dimmed the colors are more pronounced and they are washed out when the lights are bright.
Its nothing to do with light. The brighter the light, the more colourful they are, unless they're greying out. From my bunch I have only one loach that greys out at lights on. The rest don't change colour at all.
Typical ingredients of NLS formula is below. I feed mine a couple of types but mainly Cichlid formula and Algae max. Healthy colour change may take a few months to occur. Don't expect a 3 day wonder once you start feeding better food. For a loach I bought a few years back it took a few months until he started looking like the rest of my bunch, i.e deep yellow and black colours with orange tale. He was very washed out when I bought him. I had a thread here about him but photobucket has deleted my pics and I don't keep them anymore.
Frozen food and most flakes aren't that nutritious unless you have an arsenal of different types of frozen food. I feed frozen food as a treat because they like it, not for nutritional value. NLS is superior to majority of foods sold, if not the best.
See ingredients below.
Whole Antarctic Krill, Whole Fish, Whole Wheat Flour, Ulva Seaweed, Chlorella Algae, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Kelp, Garlic, Alfalfa, Scallops, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Wakame Seaweed, Spinosum Seaweed, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Choline Chloride, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate and Manganese Sulfate.
Typical ingredients of NLS formula is below. I feed mine a couple of types but mainly Cichlid formula and Algae max. Healthy colour change may take a few months to occur. Don't expect a 3 day wonder once you start feeding better food. For a loach I bought a few years back it took a few months until he started looking like the rest of my bunch, i.e deep yellow and black colours with orange tale. He was very washed out when I bought him. I had a thread here about him but photobucket has deleted my pics and I don't keep them anymore.
Frozen food and most flakes aren't that nutritious unless you have an arsenal of different types of frozen food. I feed frozen food as a treat because they like it, not for nutritional value. NLS is superior to majority of foods sold, if not the best.
See ingredients below.
Whole Antarctic Krill, Whole Fish, Whole Wheat Flour, Ulva Seaweed, Chlorella Algae, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Kelp, Garlic, Alfalfa, Scallops, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Wakame Seaweed, Spinosum Seaweed, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Choline Chloride, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate and Manganese Sulfate.
In fact I found the pictures of one of my clown loaches for which I documented the colour change.
First one is when I bought him:
Second one is 6 months later feeding mainly NLS. Its been a few years now since these two pictures were taken and he's grown nothing short of another 4 inches and is the biggest and oldest loach I have, assuming he was older than my other loaches when I got him based on size.
First one is when I bought him:
Second one is 6 months later feeding mainly NLS. Its been a few years now since these two pictures were taken and he's grown nothing short of another 4 inches and is the biggest and oldest loach I have, assuming he was older than my other loaches when I got him based on size.
Last edited: