Weird Clown Loach Behavior

[sountfc]

I have a pair of clown loaches that have been just going ballistic for the past two to three hours. Both are about 16 years old, and recently I have noticed that their bands have started to separate.

What they've been doing for the past few hours is locking jaws. It's similar to what I have seen a lot of my cichlids do over the years when they are either fighting for a territory or for a female. I've never seen these guys do this before. When they do they both hyperventilate, and they also both get pretty pale in color. The other thing I have noticed is that the other smaller clown loaches hang out as if they're quite interested in what is going on.

Does anyone know what this means? I've had these guys for years (16!), and this is brand new behavior. I'll try to post a video a bit later. I'm curious to know if anyone is familiar with this just based on my description.

[mark razmandi]

I have a pair of clown loaches that have been just going ballistic for the past two to three hours. Both are about 16 years old, and recently I have noticed that their bands have started to separate.

What they've been doing for the past few hours is locking jaws. It's similar to what I have seen a lot of my cichlids do over the years when they are either fighting for a territory or for a female. I've never seen these guys do this before. When they do they both hyperventilate, and they also both get pretty pale in color. The other thing I have noticed is that the other smaller clown loaches hang out as if they're quite interested in what is going on.

Does anyone know what this means? I've had these guys for years (16!), and this is brand new behavior. I'll try to post a video a bit later. I'm curious to know if anyone is familiar with this just based on my description.

super strange, never heard of it...dude if they bred i would worship you lol

[sountfc]

If that happened I would be blown away!!! Here is a video we took. They don't really start going at it until the second half.

http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx66/sountfc/?action=view&current=101_2240.flv&newest=1

super strange, never heard of it...dude if they bred i would worship you lol

[Mzungu]

Wow, that is really strange! Umm, I have absolutely no idea what's going on.

Have you made any changes in the tank? Like, any new clown loaches, or a big water change, or a redeco, or anything like that?

[danielp]

Looks like the guy on the left had something in his mouth.

Really cool video.

I have a clown loach that is about 20 years opld.

[stevenallenbarnard]

It's a struggle for dominance. if you notice in the beginning how they are circling each other how they arch themselves. that would also explain why they "gray out" when they do it. as for the bands seperating, if you look at a thread I posted in this forum titles "for all of the clown loach people" the video shows two large (10"+) CL's and their bands are seperating. appearantly it comes with age/maturity.



I'm afraid it doesn't look good though. you only option will be to just give them to me. I'll be over in 30 minutes, lol.

[stevenallenbarnard]

PS,
I have two (although no where near as old/big as yours) who are the two biggest of my 13 and they do it all of the time.

[sountfc]

Ha! That's funny.

I did read your post, and I watched that video as well. Very cool. The bands on them have only recently started to separate, and them seem to be doing so at a pretty rapid rate.

Anyway, that makes sense as to what the behavior represents. It's pretty interesting to watch, for sure.

It's a struggle for dominance. if you notice in the beginning how they are circling each other how they arch themselves. that would also explain why they "gray out" when they do it. as for the bands seperating, if you look at a thread I posted in this forum titles "for all of the clown loach people" the video shows two large (10"+) CL's and their bands are seperating. appearantly it comes with age/maturity.



I'm afraid it doesn't look good though. you only option will be to just give them to me. I'll be over in 30 minutes, lol.

[cms6175]

how do you get your's so dark? my 15 year old died a year or so ago, and he was never that dark!

[mnemenoi]

Until you posted I had not considered it, but now that you mentioned it I noticed a pair of mine doing something very similar about a week ago. It was unusual behavior and persisted for about a day or two. No injuries, just looked like some sort of territorial sparring with their jaws. I wonder if it has something to do with the time of year or perhaps temperature shifting? Maybe length of the day? Barometer? Thanks for posting it, had you not I had just written it off as oddball behavior that occasionally comes and goes.

[stevenallenbarnard]

http://www.loaches.com/articles/clown-loach-coloration-marking-variations