Loaches at Petsmart

[Scootdj79]

Anyone been in a PetSmart lately? In the horse face loach tanks that they have they have young loaches mixed ((by mistake i am sure)) that are enlongated body being greenish brown in color and mottled. Almost looked like the Moosefaced loach, Somileptes gongota, but i am not sure. I wish someone else would see them and know themselves what they are. I forgot my camera to take pics.


P.S. Name is Scott and from Michigan, USA. I been here a while just mostly not saying much tell now. Nice to meet you all and nice to have read much of what you all have said. Thanks.

[Emma Turner]

Hi Scott, and welcome!

Without a photograph, it is going to be near impossible to guess, so next time you're there definitely take your camera along. I would be very surprised if they were Moosefaced Loaches as that is a very very delicate species, and although I obviously have no experience of PetSmart myself, I've heard various opinions about them and I'm not convinced that they'd be doing so well with them. Still stranger things have happened.....

On a complete off-chance, were they anything like these?
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/ko ... ia-pristes

Also, have you tried searching via our pictorial search index? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pi ... e-pictures

Emma

[starsplitter7]

Anyone been in a PetSmart lately? In the horse face loach tanks that they have they have young loaches mixed ((by mistake i am sure)) that are enlongated body being greenish brown in color and mottled.

Hi,
You may have seen my post on Tiny Horse Faced Loaches. I wonder if we are seeing the same fish? I got them at PetSmart. I know my 3-4" HFL are actually HFL (I got them at a family owned, very reputable, fish store), but I did take PetSmart's word that these tiny guys are actually HFL. I could be wrong. They do have the same general shape and coloration as my bigger HFL.

I like to buy my fish from the family owned store, because the fish are so clean and healthy, and the owners really love fish and teach me about them. (They also take in unwanted fish including 4 Pacus over a foot long each, left on their doorstep in buckets during the night. The store mascot is a giraffe catfish named Snuffles. He's awesome.) However, I usually buy my supplies from the mega fish stores, because they have a better selection. To be fair, our local PetSmart has a few fish owners in their sales people. I try to visit while they are working. Tanja

[Rubix]

unfortunately for me, Petsmart is my only LFS in my town. ive gotten all my kubotai there along with all of my other fish. only loaches ive ever seen are kubotai and clowns... hearing that they are stocking horse faces in other stores in other parts of the country excites me, though im sure it's only a regional thing. perhaps my Petsmart will also get new loaches in. starsplitter7 are you located in michigan also? if anyone else sees anything interesting pop up in Petsmarts let us know

i'm in eastern north carolina btw

[starsplitter7]

starsplitter7 are you located in michigan also? if anyone else sees anything interesting pop up in Petsmarts let us know

i'm in eastern north carolina btw

I am in Tampa, Florida. So you have horses north of you and south of you. Maybe you could make a special request. My PetSmart also has Dojos (my favorite) -- regular and golden (some are pink) and Botia Kubotai. All my funky loaches came from my cool local fish store: Golden Zebras, Borneo Sucker Loach and Polka Dots. And they take requests. (I read we're not supposed to advertise, so if anyone is local, and wants to know my favorite store, feel free to PM me.)

BTW I went to High School in Fayetteville, NC and went to college at UNC-CH (and Berlin). Tanja

[kimura]

i purchased 2 inch horse faced loaches from petsmart 2 weeks ago since i had not seen any in my area for at least 2 years. going back the other day i saw a loach that was maybe 1 1/4 inches and i wasnt sure what it was. it looked similar to a horseface shape but its body was almost transparent. it almost had a horse face but the snout didnt seem as pointed. i was very close to buying it out of curiosity but im trying to destock my tanks

on a side note i usually detest most pet chains . most of the kid employees dont know what the hell is going on but occasionally you find decent help. all i want is someone that can catch my fish without jabbing or scaring it. BUT i have found petsmart fish very healthy. they add things for the fish to hide in which is probably to sell accesories but still good for the fish. all in all they are one of the better big chain stores i've seen. PETCO on the other hand is reprehesible. EVERY time i go in there is at least 6 dead fish and one tank with ich and i usually must point this out. the only fish i've ever bought there gave my tank ich.(second time EVER getting ich with a new fish) . pet extreme is just as bad. NO COVER FOR THEIR FISH!!!! that company i believe is in place so the parent company can write it off as a loss for tax relief for their other buissness , which i believe is dog food.

sorry for the rant........

[killforfood]

Apparently Petsmart has a strict policy against taking fish photos so it may not be possible to obtain pictures of the fish in question.
Two days ago I was kicked out of a Petsmart for doing just that.
Actually the whole thing was rather comical as they took it very seriously.
As soon as I started clicking pictures (without permission) the two fish employees quickly left the area and informed a rather large and loud supervisor. He came up behind me and in a booming voice demanded that I “STOP TAKING PICTURES IMMEDIATELY” and that I was in violation of strict store policy. Now I've been all over town taking pictures and most stores are more than helpful, I've even had them net a couple fish and bag them so I could get better photos for identification purposes but this guy was just down right rude. well, I challenged him on it and wanted to know why they had such a dumb rule too which he responded that they have to "protect intelligent property" and went into a speal about their very sophisticated and unique tank size, nozzle location, and filtration design blah, blah, blah, that the competition would like to have. I thought that was all a bunch of baloney and told him it was really because he was afraid of some animal whacko’s taking pictures of all of the dead and dying fish and giving him grief about it. He didn't disagree but just asked me to leave.
Bottom line, ask nicely up front, maybe your store is different.

And just to confirm that I’m an intelligence stealing criminal, here’s a couple contraband photos from Petsmart




Weren't really worth the hassle but oh well.


Now to end on a positive note. The following day I returned with some prices that I had printed from their website and asked for a price match. The Clerk was very pleasant and said “no problem”. That being said, I still prefer to support my local Mom and Pop store as they always have the best service.

[Scootdj79]

Hmm Emma you could be onto something with the Kottelatlimia pristes cause they do look similar to that from memory and are rather small. I am going to have my girlfriend when she comes up this evening stop and grab four or so of them. I will attempt to take pics from a q-tank of them and put them on. I didnt think they were mooseface myself cause of the delicateness of them and i knew it if was that i wasnt going to get any of them cause i dont have what i feel would be perfect conditions for them but i do for the Kottelatlimia pristes easily. Yes i am a loach freak myself.

I also do not care to give money to chain stores like Petsmart but I travel all over Michigan and my petstores all over are going extinct on me and chains stores are about all thats left. Sometime i may just have to open my own store like i always wanted. May have to visit you Emma and take tips from your beautiful store.

My girlfriend is going to England in spring and told her if your in the area you have to stop by Emma's store so we shall see.

[Emma Turner]

You and your girlfriend are more than welcome, Scott. Just drop us a PM if/when you know when you might be in the UK.

Looking forward to seeing the pics of those mystery loaches, whatever they turn out to be. I suggested K. pristes as not only did they kind of match the description, but also because I know they are around/available at the moment. But I'll probably be wrong, we'll have to wait and see what you come back with!

Emma

[Scootdj79]

Heres two really bad pictures of the loaches. They were like i said in the horse face loach tank but their was horse face loaches same size and they looked like horse face loaches and not like these so.. here you are if it helps at all. Sorry for bad quality as didnt have my camera set up that good.

[Scootdj79]

If you cant tell color or something with fins or something you want to know about the loach that may help just ask and i will check. The pictures are not that great and the fish are showing up faded out a bit too. The dorsal fins have some darker spots than surrounding color just like the body. There faces to me are not as elongated as the baby horse face loaches ( Acantopsis choirorhynchus ) they had or like my horse faces that I have.