Zebra Loach Question
 

I bought my zebra loach about a week ago and all he does is hide in the underwater cave structure however, I have spotted him at night when the lights go out and can be seen swimming around the bottom of the tank. I heard they are nocturnal but, is this normal behavior for this fish? I usually drop blood worms and pellets right before I turn the fish light off.. I'm assuming he is eating... Also, how often should be fed?

Just want to make sure my fish is not sick or anything.

Semi funny.. so i started feeding the other fish flakes literally a few minutes ago and bam zebra loach comes out of nowhere and is swimming like crazy! I've never seen him this active this early! Wahoo! I may buy him a buddy down the road but he seems to be making pals with the dojo loach!

They aren't supposed to be hiding all day like that. All loaches are social creatures. They need more than one around to feel comfortable. He is trying to "make friends" with the dojo loach out of an innate desire to be around other loaches. Zebra loaches live in shoals by the thousands in the wild. I highly recommend getting a few buddies for yours.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/f...0/#post1243556

This is a video made by one of our members of her zebra loaches. You'll see how they are supposed to act here.

Loaches should be kept in groups of at least 4. More is better. They need the shoal of companions to feel secure.

Just piping in to point out a few things. As already suggested all loaches are social creatures. Lacking a pack around them makes them feel unsafe and therefore it leads to hiding. Get more loaches, get your pack up to 4-6 members at least. Always do even numbers a they like to pair up when roaming around.

Also I don't know what kind of substrate you have but it's worth a mention that the happiest loaches live in a sand bottomed tank. Any substrate that is sharp like flourite and some gravels can damage their darling barbels.

Once you have a pack remember that loaches love to play. You want to provide them with some sort of play-ground so they can dart in and out, explore, and be motivated to come out.

I have two Golden Zebra Loach and they school with my three yoyos. You can see healthy loach behavior in this video:
I know someone previously linked my thread but that's a straight link to the video. A few other things, if your light is too intense it can cause even a pack to go into hiding. Also if you have any aggressive fish that can also scare a pack into not being as active as you may want them to be.

We have six loaches in a 55.
They were shy for quite some time. Many caves to hid it makes them more secure, and they are much more active knowing there is a nearby place to hid if they need to.

I have 9 Golden zebra loaches in a 120 Gallon and boy do they play and swim all day I had them in a 30 gallon at first and when they got bigger they stopped swiming around as much but in the 120 gallon its fun all day

They don't look like zebras to me.
You have a very nice looking tank.

Mine are Golden Zebras but some of them look like a cross between a few loaches as they are growing bigger, They are the most active loaches I have ever seen, I have queen loaches also and they are not very active

They are very good looking.