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Ok, i have 2 CLs in my betta barracks. It was either this for a few months, or live in a sump of another betta breeder which recently became unplugged over the coldest day of the year, so I think that this is a reasonable option right now.

they are just under betta-sized themselves, so by the time they grow any, they'll have a 55 to play in Its here already, just needs to be set up (can't do it until we move though, so they have a few more months in jar city)

I am having trouble getting them to eat anything substantial. I mean, they are definately eating, I know they are eating, but they won't eat in front of me, so i don't know how much they are eating each. I can't feed them bloodworms as i'm allergic, the best i can do are blackworms, and they aren't as meaty. I'm trying hikari carnivore pellets, shrimp pellets, staple food pellets (compressed flake) and spirulina flakes (sunken) but they don't seem to be gaining.
They seem content enough, not stressed or bothered by their surroundings, are reasonably healthy in all other respects (one has a damaged dorsal from a while ago, but it is healing) and to be honest, I don't even know how plump they are supposed to be at this age.
I wasn't really ready for the fish, but given their options, I had to accept then and there, so thats that unfortunately. I'm learning on the fly

What is a good plumpness for a 5cm CL?

How old is a 5cm CL likely to be?

What foods would you recommend?

How much does a growing CL need to maintain/gain weight?

(I am looking into worming them, but everything i have looked at seems to react badly with loaches.)

Last edited by Callatya at 04-Sep-2005 04:42

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

hey...im also interested to know how to make them gain weight...im currently feeding them with flake food and they are like just fit...i tried bloodworms but they dont seem to love it...but my yoyo's are really really fat...

Hi there. I have 3 clown loaches that were about 4-5cm when i bought them about 21/2 months ago. I noticed mine grew longer frst and then filled out alot. They are about 8-9cm and much more stocky now than they were as babies. Oh, and mine eat like absolute pigs if I let them. They eat till they are bloated then lay down and sleep it off for a few hours. I say give them a few weeks and they should start to fill out some more. Kind of like a puppy growing into his paws. Also, the sooner you get them in the big tank the better. They really love digging through substrate for food and they love a little bit of current too. They're great fish, and not too hard to figure out. Just as long as they don't get sunken bellies or anything. They tend to ge to about 8cm fairly quickly then they slow down and bulk up more IME.

I have never been able to fix a "skinny one" but becaues I have had a couple and wanted to know as much as I could Ispoke to Keith about feeding and variety and stuff.since then I have noticed that my Clowns are alot more active and look bulkier(if that is actually a word). their colours have improved as well.

Basically I feed them some thing different every day, including two lots of veg and one day of fast(same day as Waterchange), so different flakes pellets(i do frozen blood worms but hey black or blood ? am sure the fish won't mind!)

It has worked really well since I think it was maybe 3 weeks ago I asked Keith??

It sounds like you are doing that, how long you had them?

do you feed them after lights out - perhaps they might prefer that if they are nervous? or they might be still settling in?

GFG

Last edited by goldfishgeek at 04-Sep-2005 08:00

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

Frozen bloodworms and brineshrimp they love, and after eating this for a couple of weeks, they are sure to fatten up... it worked on all of mine. I even had one who had the "skinny" disease, it took him actually a couple of months to fatten up but you cannot go wrong. Once they get bigger, they also love the frozen miasys shrimp. Good luck!

Could you feed them prawns? I have a bag of frozen prawns in the freezer - would they be safe for the fish esp Clown Loaches?

has anyone else done this?

GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

I've fed my fish prawns before without any problems.

My clowns are a bit larger, maybe 6-7cm; one I've had for about a month, the other two for less than a week. So far they are eating very well, anything I put in the tank. Today they had freeze-dried krill for the first time.

Mine are in a busy tank which includes a large school of very active giant danios, that may have something to do with their eagerness to eat too :%)

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I have clowns that are mostly between 3.5 inches to 5.5 inches and somehow, they dont understand wat the big deal is with blood worms. Mine prefer tubifex worms, so maybe u should try these. I have seen that tetra colour bits help fatten up clowns a lot and my clowns dig it. Sinking and algae wafers are good as appetizers coz they seem to get them hungry for more.

I try and pursuade my LFS guy to catch some small snails for me once in a while, and the clowns love them too

I know other folks have tried a lot more food

snails! geez i'm thick!

I'm being overrun by MTS in my plant tank and was about to sell a whole bunch off, but this would work just as well! thanks clowny!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Callatya

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

I managed to keep my CLs very happy for 18+ years and they just eat about evey thing I gave them.

Have a look in My Profile where I have a full feeding program of all the different foods I have used in the tank/s They have survived at least three tanks.

Keith

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