Urm.....i've Lost My Clown Loach

[miketout]

Hi all,

I've only been keeping tropical fish for 4 months and I'm experiencing something that just doesn't make sense............... One of my clown loaches has disappeared, nowhere to be seen.

I've looked in all the hiding places but there is no sign of him. I can only conclude that:

1. He is better at "hide and seek" than I am.
2. He has popped to the shops and will return later.

He was in the tank yesterday so I would expect to find some evidence of him. Any suggestions? Are there any occurrences of spontaneous combusting loaches?

Other fish in the tank:

2 dwarf gouramis
2 silver sharks
1 Plec
1 Molly
2 Rainbows

I Could understand it if I had a dwarf great white shark in there!

 

[chrismr]

He will either be dead or hiding.... they are good at hiding (in very very small places). how big is he?

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

check behind everything in the middle ofplants everywhere, they also might be covered in sand because they dig a bit too,

 

[miketout]

check behind everything in the middle ofplants everywhere, they also might be covered in sand because they dig a bit too,

Right....I've checked all of the possible hiding places (Hollowed log, rocky cave, plants and gravel) and he's definitely not there. My assumption has to be that he's dead and probably been eaten.

Excuse me for my novice naivety here, but considering he was in the tank only yesterday wouldn't you expect to find some remains as he was a 3 inch fish.

Poor little fellow, he was about to move to a nice new home too !

 

[Jules H-T]

CLs are incredible at hiding, especially when they are small. Don't give up all hope yet, have a look at night.

I doubt he's been completely eaten in a day and not left bones or something. Have you got a hood? He might have made a bid for freedom, check behind the tank.

Watch your water stats though, because if the worst has happened and he's rotting somewhere he could cause problems from beyond the grave.

 

[smithrc]

remains would still be in there... take the ornaments out of the water and listen... after a while you may hear a wet flapping noise

we ended up with 0 loaches at one point (not bad considering we have 7 and the biggest is about 4") they had all managed to cram into a hollow in a bit of bogwood - the biggest had got stuck at the back, stopping any from getting out!

got them out in the end (cracked the wood) we blocked the hole and thought no more about it... untill we lost the smallest... yep you guesed it - he had managed to somehow get into the blocked off hollow (I still believe it was magic).

They are little buggers!

Hope you find yours

 

[miketout]

Thanks for your replies and sharing your clown loach experience, sounds like you need to keep an eye on these little fellas.

I've removed all ornaments and plants from the tank leaving literally nothing but water, gravel and fish. No sign of Mr C Loach, not even his remains. I even checked inside the filter outlet as I noticed he was trying to swim into that the other day.

I do have a hood on the tank, but checked around on the floor anyway, still nothing!

Think I am going to put this one down to pure magic or a prolonged April fools stunt! I will be even more spooked if he returns!

Thanks again for your help and opinions, its much appreciated as a newbie

 

[trace1]

hiya
is it a jewel tank/filter. as mine used to hide the very bottom of my jewel filter, only found them cos i was looking down the side of the tank & niticed them looking at me through the gaps in the side of it

 

[miketout]

Yes it is a Juwel tank/filter. I have checked externally and interally from top to bottom but nothing.

 

[smithrc]

see... magic!

grap a chair, a torch and a bit of its fave food. camp out by the tank and after lights out (in the room too) bung the food in...

Fingers crossed for you - I think you'll find him (we've lost one or 2 for days on end... they havent learnt what a role call is yet

 

[miketout]

Glad to say there is a happy ending to the missing clown loach saga.

Found him cramped underneath the heater within the consealed Jewel filter unit. Must have ducked in there whilst I removed the power head for all of 2 secs, can't see how else he could get in there.

Seems perfectly happy now he's reunited with his clown loach buddy (and he can move), great to have him back as I thought he was a gonna !!

trace1 - Thanks for the tip off regarding the hiding place !!

 

[smithrc]

great news

 

[trace1]

Glad to say there is a happy ending to the missing clown loach saga.

Found him cramped underneath the heater within the consealed Jewel filter unit. Must have ducked in there whilst I removed the power head for all of 2 secs, can't see how else he could get in there.

Seems perfectly happy now he's reunited with his clown loach buddy (and he can move), great to have him back as I thought he was a gonna !!

trace1 - Thanks for the tip off regarding the hiding place !!

hiya
nice 1 glad you found him. mine got in there without me moving anything he got through the the smaller gap going. needless to say i took the juwel filter out cos they kept doing it . they in a different tank now which is again a juwel but they don't seem to try to get in the filter on this 1, but there is only a tiny gap this time