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i had 2 clown gary and i was very happy

in 3 months that i had them they had grown at least 1/2 of their original size

than i go feed my fish this morning and i couldnt find one i kept lookin and looking and it was floating up behind the water return on my penguin 330

why? oh whyyyyyyyy???? why did this happen???

the others fine like usual and eating happily

thanks

As I've written before...

There is a percentage of Clown Loaches that do not thrive.

The percentage will vary too much for a definite statistic to be formed but I would guess at least three out of ten do not survive.

The smaller they are when purchased, the higher the percentage of deaths seems to occur.

Provided your water parameters are good and you test them on a regular basis, you may escape the greater loss, or, you may not.

Clowns, being schooling fish, depend on each other for security. The minimum accepted amount of Clowns for schooling and security is six.

--garyroland.

gary,
when i took him out of the tank, his belly was really huge! here's my question, is it possible that he ate too much and died or do their bellies swell up like that after they have been dead for some time (overnight/4-5hrs)???

Most Clowns I've seen after death (the Clowns, not me) are thin/emaciated even after being in the tank awhile...

Dropsy comes to mind when I see bloated stomachs and Clowns, especially young Clowns, do not last long with that malady.

--garyroland.

[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-06 19:36][/span]

one last thing gary...

how do u tell a female clown from a male?

That's a good question and one I can't answer...

There may be a size difference, not in length but in width.

When they reach breeding maturity two would stay together for the event and observation would determine the sexes.

--garyroland.

the fins are different between the female and male.