Clown Loach eating

RickR · #1 ,

Do clown loach only eat live food? I bought 2 yesterday and they will not eat the flake food. Is there something else i should feed them or will they eat it eventually?

Dano · #2 ,

Healthy Clown Loaches eat just about anything and with gusto.....Yours are probally still stressed from shipping and the trip home from the store.

Read some of the posts about them in this sub forum.

RickR · #3 ,

That's what i was thinking, considering i got their and they placed the bag of clown loaches in their tank and than i said ill take them so than drove to my house and put them in another new tank. Hopefully they will eat up and i just bought some brine shrimp for them too eat too

they are my favorite.

Dano · #4 ,

How big are your Clowns? From years of experience, I have found that when they are under one and a half inches when purchased, they are easily stressed and need special care........Make sure you have something in the tank that they can hide in completely out of sight........Don't try to force the feeding issue as they will eventually eat if the water quality is good and they aren't disturbed......You may want to keep the tank semi dark for a while.
Keep us posted
Dan

RickR · #5 ,

Surprisingly the smaller one is the one that isnt as stressed yet not quite normal. They are both under 1 and a half inches. The bigger one might almost be that big. It doesnt want to hide though. All it does is swim up and down the front glass of the tank almost trying to get out. Any help? This poor guy won't settle down and i really want him to live

. Here are some pics of it, this is the bigger one and it is in the corner it always is swimming up and down the glass.

RickR · #6 ,

You said the Clown Loach looks skinny in the other post and it does, it doesnt eat much. I did learn that it does calm down a little bit when the light is off, still not normal at all but i guess its better not much tho. I hope the poor guy starts to eat more should i buy sinking pellets or something special? I have frozen brine shrimp and flakes that i feed my fish.

Dano · #7 ,

I feed a variety of foods, but the cyclopeze pellets (Tetra Microcrab) and small shrimp pellets get down to the bottom where my Loaches like to graze......I don't know if you have a place that the Loach can hide in that he can get completely out of sight, but it would help his feeling of security.

See if you can get a good pic of him from the side so I can get a good look at him.

RickR · #8 ,

ok ill try to get a good pic with a real camera, but even if i did have a spot the guy wouldnt leave his corner going up and down. In the back right corner of my tank i hace a rock stood up on it making that corner a little cave. I will take a picture today and post it up

RickR · #9 ,

Here you go. Hope this is what you wanted, the smaller one is the one you can see the belly of.

RickR · #10 ,

And since i have brine shrimp frozen is it still worth a shot getting the shrimp pellets or microcrab?