New Member

Posts: 1
From:singapore
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-08-2004 07:21 PM         

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Hi. I am a new tropical fish owner and have a few queries regarding clown loaches. We have a really big water pot with live plants and aquarium plants aswell as a variety of fish including red zebra cichlids, green tiger barb, catfish and 4 clown loaches. One of the very first clown loaches died and was found floating on the water surface. He was quite bloated. This happened after I fed frozen blood worms. Also one of the blue zebras died so maybe the worms were infected. Yesterday I found another clown loach dead but on the bottom of the pot. I have one now that comes up to the water surface a lot and swims around there with his head out of the water. As he swims around he seems to be bumping into the floating leaves. Is this due to poor eyesight. Is it normal for them to come up to the surface? He does swim around in the water but seems to be a bit lethargic and slow. The plants in the pot produce quite a bit of algae and he comes up to eat flakes but is there anything else I could be feeding him. Also how much and how often would you recommend to feed them. As I have other fish aswell, I don't know if all the fish are able to eat the same diet. The pot is in the shade and I have a portable battery operated pump I put in there to create air. Any information would be great.
Thanks

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Member

Posts: 122
From:orangeville,ontario, canada
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-08-2004 07:25 PM         

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here is a link for a site i hope this helps http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_macracanthus.html

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take a look at my aquarium http://www.bryansaquariums.cjb.net/

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Moderator

Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-08-2004 10:43 PM         

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Hi Leese, The guidelines for the large pot are the same as for an aquarium. Clown Loaches staying at the top of the water is not normal. It is a sign of not having enough or not being able to process the oxygen in the water. This happens when the ammonia or nitrite levels get too high. The floating and being bloated just indicates that he had been dead for some time. When fish first die they sink to the bottom. If they aren't removed right away they will bloat up and float to the top. I would think that there is nothing wrong with the frozen blood worms. For fish in ponds or as in your case a large pot I would suggest floating foods like flakes or pellets so that you can see how much is being eaten and how much is sinking to the bottom. With frozen blood worms it will be hard to tell just how much is being eaten. Most likely your problems are a result of uneaten food. With regard to algae growth, the plants actually retard algae growth because they takeup the nutrients that algae needs to grow. There is a pond plant called Parrot's Feather which is a high oxygen producer that you might like to plant in your pot, but beware it will really take over. It is a fine leaved plant that you can just throw on top of the water, and it will take off and grow like crazy. It even does well in the winter here in Texas. Hope this helps.

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