vanishing act

[Masafi]

I had two loaches. Very healthy but they have just vanished.

1 day ago they were there, today they are not! I do have two large pecos, could these guys have eaten them?

[Drumachine09]

Check under/around/inside decor. You will often find a dead body their.

Also, check the floor around and behind your tank. I dont know the jumping habits of loaches, but anything could happen.

[rollie]

my nephew got a very large plec, in with his fish.

you put a guppy in and the plec goes mad, he will go after that guppy and eat it.

but he fine with other small fish.lol

[A340]

Check in every crook and cranny. Clown Loaches like to hide. The two I have would often hide behind the internal filter I had and even inside the spout when I turned it off. Sneaky little fish, those loaches.

[Lady Hobbs]

I also have loaches and had to remove decorations they could get stuck in. The crawled into a castle type decoration and couldn't get out.

[cocoa_pleco]

they will show up. when i had my 20g planted set up, i had a stack of tightly packed large rocks to the left. i always heard rattling in it, and the banded loach shifted things around in there so he had the most intricate tunnel system ive seen

[RobbieG]

I also have loaches and had to remove decorations they could get stuck in. The crawled into a castle type decoration and couldn't get out.

Absolutely - Clowns love to hide and they will crawl into any hole they can squeeze into. I've removed hundreds of dollars worth of stuff from my tanks with loaches for just this reason. I've seen them get stuck in places I wouldn't have though a neon could get into!

[Incredulous_Ed]

You really just have to look hard for them. They can be extremely hard to spot.

[Bill M.]

hah... when I had my first loach, he would burrow inside a fake plant to sleep. He was there every dayu till he died.... for some reason, my loaches lie down when they sleep... crazy...

[gm72]

He's in there, I'll bet. I have a pair of upside-down catfish that wedge themselves into these small decorations in my daughter's 35 gallon. I can go for weeks and not see them during water changes, they just wedge further into them.

[RobbieG]

He's in there, I'll bet. I have a pair of upside-down catfish that wedge themselves into these small decorations in my daughter's 35 gallon. I can go for weeks and not see them during water changes, they just wedge further into them.

My upside downs hide like that - but theyve got nothing on my Raphael. I've got a Raphael in my 72 that I've only seen twice cince I got him - once when I was checking out the piece of driftwood he stowed away in from the LFS and once when he got too big for the hole in that and darted across the tank into one with a bigger hole!

[Bill M.]

haha.. after reading this, I went to take a looka t my tank.. I couldnt find the smaller one of my two loaches.. I looked all over the tank, over the floor, and no luck. then, I see him coming out from in between the heater and the glass... little sh*t head... hehe

[Masafi]

Panic over, I found the little guys! After removing all of the décor I noticed a small opening in on of the bamboo arrangements and inside were two loaches all happy!

Thanks for the comments