my clowns

[Toam]

hey guys, had a question for ya about my two clown loaches. I always see them swimming together, they are fairly juvenile, at about 2 1/4 inches have been tank months for many months now. lately i've seen them floating together amongst my sword plants resting on the leaves. tonight i came home from work, now my female is sitting at the top right of my tank floating vertically, and my male is on my left side, basically sucking my heater, floating vertically. Is this a normal thing? I've just never seen them swim apart before, I've looked closely at both, neither of which appear to have any signs of ick or anything else, and all my water levels are normal.

 

[Lotus]

Loaches are known for sleeping in odd positions. Sometimes they lie on their sides and look like they're dead. As long as they're not breathing heavily and are acting normally in every other way, you probably don't need to worry about it. If you don't have a cave structure in your tank, you should get one, as the loaches do need a hidey hole.

 

[Toam]

yea, think I was just panicing, I do have a cave for them that they do frequent. I think it was probaly just them sleeping, which I don't tend to see since normally they are in the cave. I sure do love these guys though. Just to add a stupid comment since I'm watching my tank right now, It really sucks having golden dojos in a planted tank, buggers and digging em up all the time.

 

[Lotus]

Yes, dojos don't make it too easy to keep a planted tank. I have a couple regular ones, and they do a great job of making the plants float. I generally use stones or weights to keep the plants down until they're well rooted. Stem plants are almost impossible to keep with them. They seem to enjoy playing with the moss/marimo ball I have in there, though.

 

[Cutlass]

Is their color normal? Are they breathing correctly? Are their dorsal fins clamped? Are they moving rigidly?

Also, how have you determined the sexes of the fish?

 

[FisheyLisa]

I have also read they sleep vertical.

I think sexing is difficult, if I remember correctly.

www.loaches.com is a pretty good read and would have the info I don't remember if I remember.

 

[SANND]

They're probably just feeling more comfortable in your tank? My 3 used to be inseperable but now they sometimes go their own way for bit (but never for too long )