THE DISAPPEARING CLOWNS

A few days ago I was out and about and stopped at the local aquarium. I left with a couple clown fish. They are something I've always wanted to add to my tank. I love their colour and their funny antics.

I put them in my 40 gallon with a group of juvenile cichlids. They are so funny sticking together like glue. You just don't seem them apart. So I thought. A couple days after getting them they didn't look as feisty as they did. There wasn't any apparent fin damage or other indications of abuse but something didn't seem right with them. 

I did a clean on that tank so while I was at it I re-homed them to my 55 juvenile tank. These juveys are just a step above fry. Within a couple hours the one clown was swimming upside down. We all know that is not a good sign. I moved him again this time putting him in a hospital tank, but by mid-day he was dead.

The other one seemed to be doing okay all alone, but I did want to get him a new friend. Because I only had them a couple days I put the dead one in the freezer and planned to take him back. The next morning, I did a quick check on the healthy one before leaving. He was no where to be found. I searched that tank all over. Very strange. I left with my dead return and came back with two more. One was a replacement and the other an "in case" one. 

I acclimated them to the 55 gallon where the missing clown was supposed to be. He was still missing by the time I got home. The new ones seemed a good fit but it still confused me as to where the heck the other clown was hiding. I don't know anything about clown loaches. Do they hide like that?

I pushed it out of my mind and got busy with other things I needed to do. Doing my good night check there were still only two but they did look good. Off to bed I went. First thing in the morning I do my rounds feeding my fry first, new moms, sick tank and then moving on down to the main floor. Checking on my cute little clowns there weren't any left! This was nearly driving me crazy! 

I took care of the rest of my tanks, did my mid-week water test and had my coffee. All my test were awesome. Perfect in fact. With no ammonia spike I was pretty sure my clowns weren't dead but they were hiding somewhere in that tank.

Finally by the end of the day it bugged me to the point of removing everything from my aquarium. I turned off everything, removed the rocks, shells, plants and every thing that was movable except the fish. Guess what??? No clowns anywhere. There is no place where they can jump out. I checked the shells, behind the heater, up by the filters and every nook or tiny hiding space I could think of. I even ran my fingers through the sand slowly in case they had buried themselves. But nothing!

Feeling totally frustrated I put everything back cleaned up my mess, tossed the towels over chairs to dry and was ready to go to bed. Just as I reached to turn out the light - there was a clown! Just one! Where the heck did he come from? Of course that got me all wound up again. I searched again but he was the only one in there. I went to bed with my head spinning.

This morning after doing my rounds in MLFR I headed down the check on my 55 and hopefully find 3 clowns back. GAH!! No clowns at all!