killer clown loach

[nemo1981]

last night as i was about to head to bed, i heard a big splash in my 2x2x2 corner unit.
anyway i have 3 large clownies and 4 smaller ones + other fish in there, but i went to see what it was and there was one of my zebra danios, [b:d4048a84da]missing its head!!![/b:d4048a84da] 8O
the only thing in the tank big enough would be the clown loaches but he must've been quick.
i don't know why, they're fed plenty of food, but then i also noticed i am now down from 6 danios, to 3... :x
anyone else had a loach smash a tetra sized fish like that before?

it's the first time i've ever seen it happen. :o

[Dyce]

what other fish you got in the tank?

[nemo1981]

3 gouramis, 3 tiger barbs, 2 gibbiceps, few neon tetras, lrg chinese algae eater and the danios.

[Savage_roo]

If I was you i would look at the elgy eater
There good for elgy but after thay get to a large size They tend to suck the slime off your fish i had 1 suck the eyes right out of one of my large golds fish
So I would get him out of there

[nemo1981]

no way it's him.
he's the most placid looking fish i've ever seen.
he's about 11cm,
but the reason i figure it's one of the loaches is they dart from bottom to top real quick and back down almost in a blink.

[davez104]

[quote:c26a6c0ac2]but the reason i figure it's one of the loaches is they dart from bottom to top real quick and back down almost in a blink.[/quote:c26a6c0ac2]

I think thats just a loach thing. I would definately take the algae eater out and see what happens, they can and will harm other fish.
Dave.

[ashhhh]

how large are your gibbys?
cause I have been told that when they are of an adult size they can become quite territorial towards each other and also other fish aswell - if they are in the same tank together, this is not from personal experience with them as mine are only juvies atm, but from what someone else has told me.
Might be the cause if this is true, thats if your gibby are adult that is :wink:

[nemo1981]

nah the gibbies are only small 8-9cm.
i've never seen the algae eater have a go at another fish yet...
oh well, i'll just watch and wait  :o

Another question is how big are the clownies? I have heard that the big females will start to take live food before they are ready to breed.

[nemo1981]

my 2 biggest would be around 13cm? 1 a bit smaller maybe 11cm, and 4 about 7-8cm

Hmm they sound alittle small to be breeding, but read this article, exactly the same thing, Ate all his Danios.

http://www.loaches.com/loachbreeding.html

HTH.

[nemo1981]

interesting read.
i think the oldest one i have would be around 8-9 years old?

[Cory Fan]

Thanks for sharing  :wink:

[Monty]

How long do the loaches live for ?

[nemo1981]

not sure, around 30years at best i think?