Ooh, I *like* clowns :-)

FishNoob wrote:
> I put three clown loaches into my tank yesterday. Granted, the snail
> problem wasn't a major one - but there's not a snail to be seen now!
> Those critters are *efficient* LOL
>
> And they are such characters - I can really see why people get hooked
> on them. They've been having a thoroughly good time exploring all the
> nooks and crannies in my tank - and you can *tell* they're having fun
> just by watching them :-)
>
> Now... as to the rest - who was it posted here a few weeks ago about
> spotted blue-eyes? They are *pretty*! And guess what the store had
> yesterday... so yep, we've a few of those in there too now.
>
> As for the quarantine. Yes, well, hm, er... I planned to set up the
> quarantine tank in the morning with the water and heater, let it run
> through the day while I was out, then move the filter right before I
> added the fish. And that would have been a great plan, if I'd been
> able to find the tank! Turns out hubby stashed it on top of a
> cupboard in the garage. At least now I know where it is, even if I
> can't lift it down LOL
>
> I could have put off going to the LFS, but eldest son was looking
> forward to it (he'd been waiting patiently since November, remember),
> and I really wanted to go on a weekday so I could take the time to
> chat with the staff and look around plenty while they weren't busy.
> Having done that, though, I'm not too worried about putting the fish
> from there straight into my tank. Fingers crossed.
>

I love them to bits as well - you might have noticed :-)

Keep a close eye on them for any sign of ich (whitespot) - if they get
it you will have to treat the whole tank and the treatments available in
the UK are a bit more limited than in the US. Chances are that they will
settle better in your main tank than in a QT tank....

Don't get alarmed if you see them lying on their backs on the substrate
- they sleep this way. You may also see them lying in a heap on top of
one another - this is also normal. You will also sometimes hear very
loud clicking noises - it will be the Clowns. Another thing you might
notice is a bit of pushing and what is known as "greying" - the colour
might almost seem to drain out of them - this is part of them
establishing their hierarchy...they have nothing but contempt for your
other fish - so don't worry about that either...Feed them occassionally
with frozen bloodworm, catfish pellets, cucumber (or courgette) as well
as the usual flake stuff.

Cucumber can be a funny one to watch. I tend to cut off a chunk, stab it
with a knife, thread through a plant weight and drop it in the tank.
Clowns will often go mad for it - one of the funniest things I saw was
them hollowing out enough to swim through it...they played for hours...

A good source of info on Clowns can be found at:

www.loaches.com

Gill

BTW

Do you mean Blue Eyed Gertrudes? Dinky fish around 1cm big but very
pretty with almost glow in the dark blue eyes...if yes, it was me...