Clown loach not eating

[rbcxpeter]

I don't know if my 3 clown loaches are eating. They're very active throughout the day. All they do is go up and down against the wall but whenever I feed my tank, I never see them eat. I think they smell it though because whenever I do drop food in there, they move away from the wall and seems like they search with smell but never get food. I make sure my other fish are well fed and then against the wall, I'd sink the flake food to where they are but they don't touch it. So I figured maybe they don't eat flakes. So I bought some sinking shrimp pellets and they don't eat those either. I bought shrimp pellets because my friend's clown loaches eat them pretty well. What is their most favorite food? My LFS told me bloodworms but I wanna stay away from those. I just want pellets or flakes. Maybe they eat when the lights are out?

By any chance, would they eat garden worms that you find under rocks in your backyard?

[yukalaeli87]

how long have u had these loaches for? Loaches tend to be shy at first. Mine love the sinking shrimp pellets, and i'm not sure if flakes is a good idea... and idk about the earth worms. And it might be a good idea to drop a couple of pellets in there right before "lights out." They might be more inclined to come out to scavenge when it's dark.

[rbcxpeter]

i've had them for maybe a week now. They're pretty active. They come out and swim during the day. But they never seem to be hungry. Usually fish that are hungry will eat a pellet and if they don't like it, they'd spit it out, right? My loaches don't even bite. There would be a pellet right next to them but they don't even look at it. And they haven't died yet so I have to assume that they do dig in the sand at night and find food in there.

Sorry I didn't mean worms, I meant snails. Will loaches eat snails you find in your backyard? Cause I hear they like snails, but what kind?

[MaryPa]

No backyard slugs aren`t good for your clowns. Try some algae tablets or Brine shrimp,b lackworms or even grind up a nice juicy shrimp from your freezer. My clowns get shrimp from my hubbies stash in the freezer. I just grind one up and give them a tiny bit.

[rbcxpeter]

I got two more loaches and they all seem to be fine now...it's just that the sinking shrimp pellets are too big for their mouths so the pellets that they're trying to work on get stolen by bigger fish. Thanks for the help though

[L.c.]

I got 4 clown loaches yesterday and they seem to like my snail food...little goofs.
They did not like bloodworms or flake food at all

[rbcxpeter]

mine are actually doing better because I moved the tinfoils into a seperate tank.

[hanunxx]

Originally Posted by L.c.

I got 4 clown loaches yesterday and they seem to like my snail food...little goofs.
They did not like bloodworms or flake food at all

that's strange, 'coz I always feed my clown loaches with bloodworms (frozen), and tetra vegie flakes, and they seem to enjoy it a lot...

my tank:
12 clown loaches (size vary from 1.5" to 8")
12 blue loach (botia modista) size approx. 4" each
5 platydoras costatus size approx. 6" each
4 synodontis decorus size approx. 7" each

[rbcxpeter]

darn 8" loaches? that's humonga-dunga

[hanunxx]

Originally Posted by rbcxpeter

damn 8" loaches? that's humonga-dunga

yup, 'cause clown loach is from Indonesia (that's where I am located as well), so it's easier to find and also cheaper too

[L.c.]

Mine tried the blood worms and just spit them right out