Antisocial Clown Loach

[Kerrie]

I have a clown loach who is really quite nasty to his own kind. I put him in with my peacock eel and he gets along with him and every other fish except other clown loaches.
He behaves like the others, plays dead and is a guts but he just doesnt like other clown loaches is this something that sometimes happens with these fish or does he just have a nasty personality when it comes to others of his kind.
Concerned!

 

[Spooky76]

How many are in there, what size is the tank ? How big are the loaches ? Did you get them all at the same time ?

 

[Kerrie]

There were 4 of them but now I have 3 in the tank as the 4th is the antisocial one. They are in a six foot tank general comminity neons, corys and a black ghost knife fish. They are about 4 inches long and were all bought together he started the behaviour or I noticed it about 2 days after going in, I have tried to reintroduce him after a break and he just starts harassing the others. So he now lives in a 3 foot tank with my peacock eel and some black neons he plays and is quite nice with the eel, you wouldnt think the same fish is nasty to other clown loaches I have never come across it, they are usually so placid

 

[luque]

maybe just the loach's personality,
also a black ghost knife fish is not a community fish as it will probably eat the neons etc, also they can grow up to 20"

 

[Nuts4fish]

I have 3 clown loaches in my 75g. The Alpha is now a little over 4", with the other 2 each being 3". They were all the same size when I got them.

I went through similar period with my clowns. Six months after I got them, they fought on and off for a couple of months, with one fish dominating the others. Once the pecking order was established, the fighting stopped. Now the larger dominant fish spends most of the time in seclusion and only comes out when I feed. The other two happily wonder around. I haven't seen them fight in well over a year.

Perhaps yours are establishing their hierarchy and will calm down too.

 

[nath1]

I have the same thing with my three.
I bought them all the same time and they were about 1.5" long. Since then they have all grown but one has grown faster than the rest and he always has alot more colour than the other two. The other two almost seem grey compared to his vibrant colours. i am hoping as they get bigger and sort out their pecking order there will be order in the camp!!
nath1

 

[Kerrie]

Thanks I will just keep an eye on them and ee how it goes then

 

[Piscator]

Thanks I will just keep an eye on them and ee how it goes then

Maybe he was aggressive to the other loaches due to territorial issues? Was he meaner during feeding time, or just all the time? Do all the loaches have places that can stake out as their own territory?

 

[Kerrie]

Yeah stacks of room. He just didnt want to be near the others and still doesnt. What sets him off is if the others come near him he just seems to be antisocial