the clown battle

[lef22]

so in my tank i've got three clown loaches.I noticed a few days ago that theyd occaysionally fight among themselves.
At this point i've come to recognize them. So the clown loaches that are fighting are usually the same two,Both are bigger than the third one i think(?) and have less intence colouring than the third one as well.I also noticed that their fin on their back is more black than white whereas the other one's is more white than black.
They will chase each other around and even swim directly to one another and kind of interlock mouths like 2 kissing gouramies...
is that normal behaviour?
could they simply be 2 teritorial males?

[MonkeyPox]

Clowns are a schooling fish, but given your water parameters and (too) small tank size, I would guess they're stressed.

[Sharon]

They're actually working out who will be the dominant fish...quite normal....I doubt they will do any damage.

What size is the tank?

[Lady Hobbs]

In two years, I have seen mine scabble over twice. I dropped in some food and they stopped. Could be they are hunger?

[MonkeyPox]

Its a 50g tank.

[Sharon]

Tank size would not be causing stress at this point...maybe they are hungry, as Hobbs suggested.
I did have two that couldn't get along until they decided who the boss was....

[coralreef234]

This is a natural phenomenon among almost every living creatures.....they are bigger than the third and less colorful.so maybe it's for establishing dominance..
I hav two clown loaches and they never fight.So, I think they likes to stay paired .Maybe adding a new clown loach can fix your problem

[Crispy]

they are wrestling to be the dominant loach... these larger one's who are fighting are females.. males are smaller and non-dominant in this species.
they turn pale and wrestle... I posted some pics of my loaches fighting awhile ago...

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[lef22]

actually it looks just like your pics, my loaches are just slender ans quite smaller. i didn't actually see any harm done but i didn't want to risk it cause they have a history of "malicious acts"
perhaps they are also a bit hungry since i'm not feeding them properly, to avoid extreme amonia levels
Anyway thanks i'm keeping an eye on them and will inform you as soon as i see a change

[Crispy]

actually it looks just like your pics, my loaches are just slender ans quite smaller. i didn't actually see any harm done but i didn't want to risk it cause they have a history of "malicious acts"
perhaps they are also a bit hungry since i'm not feeding them properly, to avoid extreme amonia levels
Anyway thanks i'm keeping an eye on them and will inform you as soon as i see a change

mine are never hurt from these 'battles'... maybe bump your school up to 5-6 clowns if your bioload can handle it.