Clown Loaches Odd Behavior

Last year I moved my clown loaches, along with the L. Malawi male peacocks and haps into a new tank. Shortly after the move, the two big males battled for hours, in what I learned later from some loach experts in England as 'male dominance aggression' to win the love of the female. They attributed this behavior due to the move. They also discussed on their forum, using my photos, that the dominant male displayed pores on the head that normally is only seen during breeding. They found it interesting, because at the time (and I still think this is true) the clown loach have never bred in an aquarium.

Anyway, I can't find the link, so since some folks were discussing clown loaches with Lake Malawi cichlids, I thought I would bore you with a lengthy series of their behavior that I captured with the cam. Btw, this is only a dozen of the hundred plus shots I took. This went on for hours.

You will notice that during this 'dominance battle' they lose their saturated color and become 'bleached out'.



The attacks to the bodies left some serious damage (it healed up in a week or so).




You can see the color difference here compared to a younger loach showing normal coloration.


They would not let the cichlids get in their way during the battle.



This close-up shows some of the damage caused by the battle. And you can see the pores on the head that are in a neat row pattern.

And finally, here is shot of the three together a week later. All colored up and healed.

Wow, Bobby, thanks for posting those! There are lots of claims on the Internet of people having bred them, but, it would be nice to see some photos of the eggs and fry.

Some of the accounts I've seen say they scatter the eggs and then eat them. If that's happening, maybe yours bred but ate the eggs.

Maybe the big water change after the move is what spurred this behavior. I put mine in a 20 gallon once, fed them blackworms and switched them from one teaspon per gallon instant ocean over to rain water, but nothing much happened. There was a brief period when they were scrappy with each other (long after the rainwater tank, and after I had moved them back to the 55. It was during a time I was working a lot so I wasn't really clear on what was going on. I short while later, I lost two of the adults. Now I'm left with an 7 inch adult and a 3-4 inch younger fish. One of these days I'll have to buy some more small ones and see if I can get a bigger group going.

Great shots, Bobby! Would really be cool to witness that behavior. You guys are making me want to get more loaches and try my luck at getting them to breed also.......... wouldn't that be awesome ???

DC

If that article was correct that they live to 50 years old, perhaps they have to be significantly older than most aquarium fish before they reach maturity. And nice shots as always Bobby.

The 3 clown loaches I still have are probably about 4 years old? Still young & thin & don't have that nice thick look that Bobby's have. It's really interesting to see that bleached out color in the males (I'm such a novice, but it seems most males colors intensify when battling, instead of washing out?). I'll have to be on the look out for pores as well. I'd never heard that about clown loaches!

I DID toss a handful of Malaysian trumpet snails in with them last week, and even though they say loaches can't get the snail out of the 'trapdoor' shell, these guys didn't seem to have any problem with it. It was hysterical watching them get their snouts stuck inside the shells!
Now I'm wondering if I wouldn't have better luck with the loaches if I took them out of the Mbuna tank & put them in with the discus again, where they could get frozen brine shrimp & frozen bloodworms (and eventually CBW again if I ever get off my butt and get some).

DC

My loaches are fairly large. The three big ones are between 8 to 10 inches. They still root through the substrate looking for snails. However, since I have had them, their main diet has been the NLS cichlid pellets that I feed my haps and peacocks. I have been told that mine have grown much faster than the normal ones. I'm guessing that feeding them the NLS may have something to do with it.

The two largest ones are males, and the smaller of the three, is a female. The female develops the deeper body and looks more like a football. I'm guessing she'll pass them in size some day. When I bought these, about five years ago (I think), from the Aquarium Center on Liberty road, the associate there told me that they live to be fifty years if kept in a clean aquarium. I have heard that same life span prediction from several folks since. Of course, the only way to test and see if mine live that long is if I pass them onto someone half my age and they verify it for me, as I look down from the heavens and say, "told you so". :innocent0003:

or just stick around another 45 or so years and show your fish who's boss

or just stick around another 45 or so years and show your fish who's boss[/b]

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That would be cool. Let's see....I think that would make me around 104. Yeah, that's doable. I will need a lot of this smiley- :sign0111:

Better really build that retirement fund too....

OMG, just think, someday I could see Bobby on one of those AARP commercials, "My name is Bobby Phillips and I'm a hunnert an foah! An' I'm habin' the time a mah LIFE! I eben outlibbed dose (*&$%)^$%_)(#$^%(*$ big-butt clown loaches!"

Hard to talk when you can't find your dentures........ Heee heee~

Back in the day when I used to keep CBW tubs, I kept the clown loaches in with them for awhile. I expect that was the finest times of their lives so far. Maybe I can surpass that someday by getting them to breed........

DC

Better really build that retirement fund too....[/b]

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Well let's see. With that global warming bs they're talking about, and the price of energy. My biggest expense willl be...water. Can't drive. Won't need a furnace. My diet will be fish. Hmm, come to think about it, heck, forget that water bill, I'll be too old to do water changes anyhow! That'll leave me more money for NLS.

Ahhh, retirement. Having nuthin' but my fishies. What a life. :character0053: :sign0201: