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I bought some new rocks this week to add to my Clown Loach cave. So after shooing out the residents I pulled out all the rocks, slowly working out how I wanted the revamped cave and putting the rocks back in. After two days of no sign of my loaches I pulled the cave apart to find that the two loaches were lodged in small holes (which I would never have believed they would fit in!) in one of the rocks. I think they must have hidden in there when I shoo-ed them out.

I feel absolutely awful. They were such spunky and personable little fish.

Far be it from me to doubt your diagnosis, but are you sure they died? Maybe it's the optimist in me, but... Fish can lodge themselves into spaces and live for quite a while. As has been experienced by another member not too long ago, CLs especially like to stuff themselves into tiny holes, but they can be saved. If you only just found them, dunk the fish back in water ASAP and they might wiggle their ways back out; many fish can live surprisingly long outside of water without death.

Otherwise, I'm sorry for your loss.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Thanks but I'm pretty sure they've passed. I fed the tank freshly defrosted blood worm this morning and there was no sign of them. I have been to sad to check the rock they were in again....

oh poor little guys,sorry to here that.

Sometimes fish can get into places they can't get themselves out of, so sometimes you have to intervene and save them. You can't leave dead fish in the aquarium. Whether they are alive or they're dead, you should attempt to remove the CL's from the rock; a healthy fish can live for days if not weeks without eating. I have never heard of a fish dying directly from or soon after sticking themselves into a hole, although on the other hand it's not like I go around looking for stories of fish deaths. I say, if there's a chance, there's a chance.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I too have had loaches wedge themselves into small rocks and have had to intervene. I usually take a thick soft cloth, drench it in water, wrap it around the fishes body and gently wiggle then loose in the easiest possible direction.
My big female yoyo loach frequently wedges herself into small spaces. I have slowly been removing/adjusting rocks/spaces for her so she no longer gets caught.


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wow, that's really a big bummer, sorry bout yer loachies!!

So sad to hear that the CL's died.

When i re-arrange the setups of my tanks, i usually remove all the fish & then do the tank.


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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
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Well... you will not believe it but after 4 days I thought I have to face this and get rid of the carcasses... I pull the rock out (the rock that had been out of water for about 20 minutes) and there are no clown loaches.

Okay so maybe the bristlenose cleaned up the carcasses but usually with fish of that size they leave a skeleton... no skeleton.

Then this morning I suddenly have two clown loaches swimming around eating flake... after five days. So happy I cried.

Footnote: Those fishies had wedged themselves into those holes so good there was no chance of getting a grip on the any part of them... getting the "carcasses" out would have been very icky.

So thank you all for the advice and support. I'm a much happier fixh keeper this morning. One that will be always submersing anything she takes out the tank from now on.

Hi Jason, catching all the fish in my tank would require moving everything out including gravel (there is enough gravel to fill 7 x 10kg buckets). When I did a full reno recently I left an inch of water in the bottom because catching baby BN's is an impossible task. Even then I was hunting fish for 3 days before I caught all the other fish.

Ah, I'm glad it all worked out! See? What'd I tell you?

Make sure all the decor that you put into a tank with a CL has holes large enough for them not to be jammed. Honestly though, I think they like it. Providing tiny spaces can probably be cheated, such as by putting two pieces of rock, such as slate, close together; that way they're not REALLY trapped since you can remove pieces of rock and free them easily. My Royal Watermelon Plec, though it's almost 9", rather than appreciating the size of the cave I've provided, prefers to jam itself into tighter quarters (which actually means behind the cave, lol). It seems that fish that hide are the opposite of claustrophobic.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Great to see this happy ending

My CL s also like to squeeze themselves into tight space. Their favorite hiding place is at the corner of the tank where they stick themselves into thick layers of Amazon sword leaves - head down, vertically

A Happy Ending is always nice....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com