nooby87

i have an established 10 gal tank . filter for a 20 gall with bio wheel. waters very clear and 80 degress consistantly no ammona or nitire. all fish doing very well with good coloring on my neon tetras and albino cory cats. but i cannot keep clown loaches! i did lots of reserch befor i even got them . and so i purchsed one, then 2 more to go with him. they all died. so i reternd them and got 3 more. tey all died but one so i got 2 more to keep this one company. now 2 of them are looking thin. this is waht keeps hapining they get really skinny then die very slowly! i have herd of knifeback but is this so common that all of them died from it? and i know its not ick becouse there skin is fine no spots no rubbing on stuff. are they so hard to keep? dose not seam like anyone elce has this much truble with theM! HELP! befor more of them die

Butterfly

Welcome to FishLore!
Clown Loaches need to be in a much bigger tank, even when their small. They need to be in groups of three or more to be happy. Here's some reliable information on them. http://www.loaches.com/species-index...a-macracanthus
Your tank water temperature is good and your water parameters are good. When eating well they are big waste producers and are super sensitive to water parameters.
what are you feeding them? Do you see them eat ?
Keep us posted please

nooby87

oh and this 10 gal is temporary till my 135 gal is cycled, so pleaz dont freek out bc the loaches are in such a small aquarium.

i feed them blood wroms (frozen and then tahwed) and bananas cucumbers peas. and i see one of them eat the other not so much the third one is brand new so dont know whit that one yet. i try to feed them early in the morn or late at night. turning the lights off or leaving them off and walking away from the tank to let them feed.

Butterfly

Nobodys freaking out Many people don't know they need to be in bigger tanks so that's just a standard thing I put in I love the link I put in because it shows what huge beauties they can become
Could you answer the other questions please.
Thanks for those answers
Frozen Bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp and other meaty foods will have them fattened up in no time.
Mine ate flakes,veggie wafers, shrimp pellets and floating food as well.
Carol

nooby87

i hope so, i cant figure out why they are dying. could i be under feeding them?
if they are getting diseases is it contagious or do they just come with it and i have really bad luck with choosing my fish.

Butterfly

They may not be getting enough to eat being new to the tank but if they are eating anything at all they are getting enough.
Were they skinny when you got them? If so thye just may not have the strength to survive competing for food.
How often are you doing water changes? They are very sensitive to water quality as well as water oxygenation. With a tank that size it would be easy to deplete the oxygen with that many fish.
If these die I personally would wait until the larger tank is cycled before buying more.
Carol

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!
im wondering what research you looked at that said you can put clownies in a 10g tank?
unfortunately, they need that bigger tank asap...

nooby87

I do a water change about once a week becouse I know that the tank is to small so I always make sure that I am getting out the exsess food and things. The reason ther in a 10 gal is that this is my quarintine tank before they are going to get introduced into the now cycling 135 gal but are they really that sensitve to a small tank? I have thought about givingup till the other tank is ready but I always have one left that seams to do alright so I have hope and get him some buddies so that that one won't get lonely and die. They always seam fine when I get them from my LFS I choose active fat and colorfull ones but in about a month they start to get skinny and one will die then another.

If they all died at once I would not feel like I needed to get more. But that never happens. I have good waterflow in the tank nice current and real plants. Hiding places as well as a dark substrate. I don't know if the. Group I have now dies I will definatly not put any more clown loaches in a small tank even fir a short Time !

Shawnie

why wait for them to die? they cant make it in a 10g QT tank and they need very established tanks...which means your 135g wont be a great setup for them for months after its cycled...maybe return them to the fish store and wait until you are ready for them and not have any more deaths?

nooby87

Are they really so sensitive to a small tank? If they die in a small tank how else to you quarintine them befor u introduce them to your other tank? Don't some people quarintine for up to 4 months?

i returned them to the store and i will try agin next year when my larger tank has been cycled for a while. thanks for all the awsers guys and hopefully when i try again things will go much better in a larger tank(with a nice sandy bottom and lots of hidey holes!)

Butterfly

That was an excellent decision. Sorry you had to make it. You will be glad you did. good luck
Carol

squirrels

Hi if your loaches are looking thin if they have a hiding spot they like try sprinkling some food on top of the gravel or burry it but do it will feeding your other fish other wise they will get the food also turn out the tank light and the rooms light where the tank is. It may encourge them out a bit.

Hope this helps!

Butterfly

Since the 10g is too small for clown Loaches she returned them to the store until the bigger tank is ready.
Good decision nooby87
Carol