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My clown loach nibbles on my hand when I am cleaning the tank. More recently he's biting harder. He's not scared and lets me tickle his belly and push him around the water. Do you think the biting means he's hungry and wants a chunk of meat?

i would think he is checking you out. my clowns are very skittish of me, so i wish i can be you!. watch out for the barbs that extend from his ceeks.

Thats so cool (and cute) hahaha^^
I wish my emerald cats did that.....
Like bettachris said, he's just checking out his food source..lol. My betta does the same thing to me (sometimes he bites pretty hard)

Checking u out I'd say. I wish one of my 18 clowns wld do that

*Smacks the clowns*

How big is he? I might start to worry once he gets real big.

The nibbling clown is about 4 inches in size, the biggest of 3. Pretty smart, good at catching food pellets. I hand feed him sometimes and try to get him to follow the food. He's also started competing with the guppies for flakes on the top of the tank.
Try progressive desensitisation and positive reinforcement to make them more human friendly. Keep them a bit hungry. Keep to the same daily routine of feeds. Drop the pellets at the same corner of the tank each time. Initially keep your hand close to the food on the outside of the tank. Progressively get closer and eventually have your hand in the tank far away from the food, then gradually closer to where they are feeding. These clowns are always hungry and soon learn to ignore the hand. Let them make the first move in touching you, then reward it with food. Then try hand feeding them. The bravest fish wil get the food and your reward.

I scrape algae off the tank glass and hand feed it to the big clown too. Now the skitish little clown is starting to learn that I'm ok.

my clown competes with tiger barbs, keyholes and green sevs. for floatin daphnia, bloodworm and flakes, its so nice to see the little chap venture away from his hiding place under the driftwood

i would try to break him of the habit.

My dad's clown loach, which is over twice the siza as yours would put a pretty big gash in your finger if he did that.

Nibbling is a long, long way from attacking. The only way you are going to get a gash from any botia species is if they are scared, feel threatened, and then extend their spines. Try to handle the fish is Very different from just having your hand in the tank and the fish's curiosity getting the best of him. It is absolutely wonderful that your clown is so happy and secure in his home and that he even hand feeds. Kudos to you!

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

I feed my loaches a frozen cube of bloodworms. You should see them play tug of war. I think the nibbling is, as said above, just a bit of curiousity. Personally I think the loaches and betta's are amongst the more inteligent out of the tropical fish, hence the curiousity.

Mine were very shy at first, but spending time just watching them seems to have gained there trust.

Achilles



UK Betta seller -
www.bramsbettas.com

do clown loaches hate bright lighting..they wouldnt eat with the lights on..