My husband was getting some supplies for my quarantine tank tonight and called to ask if there was anything else I wanted. On a whim, I asked for two small clown loaches since my QT is ready for a couple of new additions. He called back, asked if clown loaches are black and white. I said no, they're orange and black (oops, edited for typo), unless he's confusing yoyo loaches for clowns. He said they had very pale orange stripes, with whited-out black stripes. I said get me two of those babies right away, they're stressed out clowns and I want to rescue them!

So when he brought them home, they were indeed two very stressed out babies, but with bright eyes and healthy finnage. I acclimated them for a couple of hours in their bag, to the QT's water, then netted them in. A little later, they were hungrily eating and their black stripes were much darker. Their orange is still pale, which I'm assuming is because a poor diet in the pet store, but I'll soon fix that. My clown in the big tank has nice bright orange coloring, so I'm not used to seeing the pale orange. I'm sure he'll be much happier once the babies are out of quarantine and in the big tank to keep him company!

no clowns can & will fade colour its one of the quirks shown by clowns they will do it if they are stressed as well