daspricey wrote:the only one?
in my lfs they have ones more thinner and paler and lankey in a way?
also is there a albino sort of these around in the uk?
Yeah, they are the only
Misgurnus species seen in the UK trade these days. There's an article on the PFK website here which might be of interest:
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... cle_id=106 which covers this. (Have a read of the paragraph called "Weather loaches are on the list. Do I need a licence?"). The other one that used to be imported was
Misgurnus fossilis, but as you can see, it is on the banned list for the UK.
The 'thin lankey ones' have been mentioned before. They are also
Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, but it is unclear why they are so thin. Some say it is genetics, others say it's internal parasites, poor diet etc. I've never actually seen one in any of our shipments though, and of course all of ours receive a good mixed diet.
The markings on individual specimens of
M. anguillicaudatus can vary quite considerably from fish to fish, so this might account for some of the differences you have seen.
Golden Weather loaches were very popular a while back, and they were quite commonly seen in the shops. However, they seem to have disappeared off of many suppliers lists over the last few years - I havn't been able to source them for 3 years now. That's not to say they aren't around, it's just that the suppliers I use (and I use quite a number) don't have them.
Hope this helps,
Emma