whats the deal

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bcfd144

bcfd144

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 24, 2010
1,259
9
38
Missouri
I have a 75 gallon tank...
Has 11 angels, 2 Clown Loaches, one indo dat (growing him out) and one BGK.

So my question is this.. My loaches always hide. Have had these guys for 5 months now. They have not gotten much bigger since Ive gotten them, but they are eating daily. I always put there food in the log they hide out in to make sure they are getting food. Since they never come out of the log, I have to feed this way.

One does come out from time to time. Not very often, but one never comes out. I check every few days to make sure they are still alive and ok, and they are, but they never come out..

I know loaches do best in groups of 5 or more, and dont like alot of light. We do have plenty of places for them to hide, there is light in the tank and not alot of shade except in the caves and logs, there are live plants.
One does come out at night, but the other just never comes out. It seems to hide all the time, day or night, light or no light. We are planning on picking up more loaches tomorrow, since we have a sale going on here and I plan to pick up at least 3 or more. Will be a week or two before they go into the tank, but we are planning on getting them.

Any ideas why or it it really that there are just the two of them. Seems weird one just hides all the time.. day or night

Angels dont ever mess with anything in the tank, so I dont see that being the reason.
 
IMO they are lonely, Just 2 clown loaches is too little , Get three more and i guarantee they will be out most of time
 
I had two Clowns that did the same thing but they grew no problems. They would come out to eat thats about it. I think thats just how they are when you only have a pair. I would not put the food in there log make them scavenge it. Try feeding with the lights outs. Make them come out they will. Or add a couple more. good luck
 
the only reason I put the food in there log is to make sure they get food. With all the other tank mates, Im affraid the rest of the fish will eat all the food before they get it. Since they hide so much, I mean.
Im hoping getting a few more works and gets them out of hiding more..
 
Sounds like your 2 haven't made the switch to day time and are staying nocternal. Adding more could solve that problem, don't know if 5 in total will be the magic number. I wouldn't worry about feeding the loaches, they are pigs and have been know to out compete other species for food.
 
Don't worry about your lighting- your loaches have other issues and once they're happy they won't care about the light. Don't worry though, there issues are common and good fun to fix. 4 things:
i) You got it- more loaches. 5 should be fine, but more is better. Also start saving for more space: >100Gal over the next couple of years as they get big & are active so will use all the space. The Dat will need that space anyways.
ii) A larger crew of loaches may not do the trick on its own. The loach-people talk about "dither fish". These are little (active) fish that tell the loaches that there are no predators around and it's safe to come out and do loach-stuff, like an impala hanging out in a gazelle herd. Some people use a school of rainbows as they're pretty & like the same temperature (toasty) and others like tiger barbs as they match (CL). I have columbian and serpae tetras as, well, I dig 'em. The dat will mess this up a bit, so get a heap of cheap, active dithers and hope that once the loaches get comfortable they stay comfortable as the dithers quietly disappear. Or just go for larger dithers like bigger rainbows or red-line barbs.
iii) set more hiding habitat- bits of bamboo, PVC pipe, oak leaves & small sticks etc... Seems counterintuitive, but it can help. Also feed an occasional snail so they have to go to work and keep their minds busy.
iv) Current- add a powerhead like a Koralia-3 aimed across the tank mounted towards the bottom, running over some sort of hard substrate like a rock or log or tile so it doesn't make a mess of the substrate (I'm assuming you have smooth, fine gravel or sand). If it runs near the bottom the angels won't be affected or will find refugia, and ultimately they'll care less than you'd expect. Dat are (often) from tidal rivers(?), so should be fine as well. Loaches will play in the current stacked one on top of the other- hysterical.
Hope this helps,
A
 
andyroo;5079067; said:
Don't worry about your lighting- your loaches have other issues and once they're happy they won't care about the light. Don't worry though, there issues are common and good fun to fix. 4 things:
i) You got it- more loaches. 5 should be fine, but more is better. Also start saving for more space: >100Gal over the next couple of years as they get big & are active so will use all the space. The Dat will need that space anyways.
ii) A larger crew of loaches may not do the trick on its own. The loach-people talk about "dither fish". These are little (active) fish that tell the loaches that there are no predators around and it's safe to come out and do loach-stuff, like an impala hanging out in a gazelle herd. Some people use a school of rainbows as they're pretty & like the same temperature (toasty) and others like tiger barbs as they match (CL). I have columbian and serpae tetras as, well, I dig 'em. The dat will mess this up a bit, so get a heap of cheap, active dithers and hope that once the loaches get comfortable they stay comfortable as the dithers quietly disappear. Or just go for larger dithers like bigger rainbows or red-line barbs.
iii) set more hiding habitat- bits of bamboo, PVC pipe, oak leaves & small sticks etc... Seems counterintuitive, but it can help. Also feed an occasional snail so they have to go to work and keep their minds busy.
iv) Current- add a powerhead like a Koralia-3 aimed across the tank mounted towards the bottom, running over some sort of hard substrate like a rock or log or tile so it doesn't make a mess of the substrate (I'm assuming you have smooth, fine gravel or sand). If it runs near the bottom the angels won't be affected or will find refugia, and ultimately they'll care less than you'd expect. Dat are (often) from tidal rivers(?), so should be fine as well. Loaches will play in the current stacked one on top of the other- hysterical.
Hope this helps,
A
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
Ya, I know the 75 gallon tank will not hold them forever. It is more of a grow out area for the loaches and the dat. Since Dats grow slow, and I am planning on putting him in one of our ray tank in time, he is just growing in the 75. But like I said, dats grow slow.
The loaches were something I have wanted for awhile. And we already picked up 4 more yesterday. They are in the hospital tank rt now till I know its safe to put them in the 75 gallon.
Tank is sand substrate. With large rocks here and there. There are also 4 caves in the tank. So plenty of places to hide. One cave always has the BGK in it, so that leaves the others for the loaches.
As for current, I have a powerhead in the tank, but dont turn it on that much. I will start doing it more as soon as the other loaches are added. The angels dont seem to mind it when its on..

We have plenty of large tanks. So no worries on when its time to more to another tank...

Thanks again
 
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