# my clown loach looks pale...



## pucca (Apr 10, 2003)

i recently purchased three clown loaches.  but one of them looks much paler then the others...when i say pale, i mean the black stripes look very transparent. does color mean anything?

thanks


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Colour means quit ea bit with Clown loaches. A pale loach is showing submissive behavior, possibly from stress, or simply to show the other fish that he is not a threat. A really dominant clown loach can turn unbelievably dark when showing its "warpaint".

I wouldnt worry


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## corey (Feb 21, 2003)

About a year ago I bought 2 clowns and one was "pale" in colour but I moved one of them to my 25 gallon and within a couple of weeks the "pale" clown was a colourful as the other one.


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## pucca (Apr 10, 2003)

thanks for the info. just today i noticed that the stripes on all of the loaches are looking very dark! guess they are now feeling at home in the new tank. 

:?: any tips on taking care of loaches...other then hiding places? 

THANKS!


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## Skysong (Jan 18, 2003)

They're great fish!  

Clowns, IME and IMO like: 

hiding places 
shrimp pellets, algae wafers accepted 
blood worms 
flake 
groups of at least 3, up to 6 (or more) would be really neat! 
plants (live, possibly plastic as more shelter) 
snails 

As far as I know, they do not eat plants. They haven't touched mine Clowns take a while to adjust to your tank, but they will love it afterwards. Some clowns grow "up" and get tall and long, while others grow more elongated bodies. They are scaleless, so they are very susceptible to things like Ich. Proceed with caution. It is a good idea to get slightly larger ones at your LFS, they are usually hardier than the 1" ones. My clowns occasionally swim with my cories. That's a sight LOL! They do well with fish their size or smaller. I keep mine with danios, harlequins, and cories. Mine are 2.5" and 1.5", BTW. One, sadly, died of worms, so I need to replace the 3rd musketeer. Clowns are known for being desperate enough to dig through gravel to hide under/in fake driftwood, so if they go missing, check it right away. They can get stuck. Clowns definitely deserve tank mates, even if they are the stars of the show. 

They also make "clicking" sounds! It's really interesting to sit and listen to them. 

BE CAREFUL when using meds, *DO NOT* use products with Copper!!!!!! Clowns are very sensitive, so you must be very selective when choosing meds. 
You can PM me for more information about them, if you'd like.


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## pucca (Apr 10, 2003)

thanks for the info! i just moved my three loaches into my bigger tank and they are adjusting quickly. they like to hide/sleep inside a conch shell!


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