Lost my aul. bi color 500 just now

[G_Sharky]

One of my small peacock about 1.5" big has been murder right before my eyes by my clown loach???..I noticed that my bi color was pretty beat up when i fed them earlier today, but I didn't expect that it would come from the clown loach...I just net him right now...his eyes have been poke out....I don't know if clown loaches are supposed to hunt or try to eat a healthy fish??? this sucks he was just about to color up.... I know that clown loaches gets pretty big and will eventually eat feeder fish, but now when they are only 3 inches big....I don't if i have some crazy clowns because 2 of them are actually fighting once in a while.....Anybody know why this happens....i'm confused....

 

[Oddball]

Clowns, like all fish like a protein supplement in their diet i.e. meat. NClowns are normally peacefull, and they settle fights by flarinig up, pushing each other and chasing.
Now clowns will not attack a healthy fish, but all botias, like all plecos, will attack a fish which is too weak to defend itself and devour it, starting with the most vulnerable parts, fins and eyes. This is only natural as for these fish, in their natural habitat, large rotein sources are rare in their diet, usually eating small inverts found in the river bottom, so naturally they would take advantage. If its any help, given time the other cichlids would actually of done the same thing.

Its a sad fact but this happens, but remember the clowns are only doing whats natural, rather than fretting about them, try to find out what caused the death of your cichlid, check your water conditions and other cichlids, also check for one individual which has become hyperdominant over the other fish.

Good luck

 

[G_Sharky]

I'm not angry at my clown...even though i saw them killed one of my peacocks their still really cute....anyways i think that you were right that they would only pick on dead or injured fish.....Cause before my cichlid died i saw that it has a lot of damage on his head and eyes and It was probably one of my cichlid who did the damage...It's natural for some of my fish to have a split fins, but it's the first time that one of my fish was badly damage....My clown clown i guess delivered the final blow....it's actually pretty disturbing to see a CL poke or eat the eyes with their barbels, feels pretty painful.....

 

[freddyk]

Was the peacock in a tank full of mbuna?

 

[Oddball]

I believe freddy that the peacock was in the tank in G_Sharkys profile

 

[freddyk]

er yeah.. of course. That tank can certainly be considered... unpredictable.

 

[G_Sharky]

I only have 3 mbuna's on my tank...and I actually never see them catch any fish that they chase....the demasoni only chases the saulosi(female) and the afra is the subdominant male in my tank....I'm doing trial and error on my tank and If you read most books they probably don't refer the combination on my tank...so far so good i could say as none of my fish are injured for now...lol.....