Kubotai ?

[piggy4]

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/ph ... c.JPG/view

What does melanistic mean in this case ?

[Martin Thoene]

Melanistic means black phase. Botia kubotai come with varying degrees of black markings and these change with age. Every so often you'll find fish with large amounts of black like the one in the photo. They are very likely a localized species variation.



Here's two examples from Kamphol Udomritthiruj showing how diverse they can be.





Martin.