Loaches Online Forum

My wife and I dropped our daughter off at the airport in Indianapolis, Indiana and then headed up to Aquarium World in Lafayette (Which Jim Powers told me about). The quality of the fish is so good that I felt like I was at Emma's place although her shop is quite a bit bigger. I came home with 3 SAEs, 4 clowns, and 10 "zebras". I forget the full name of what they called them, but it was obviously incorrect. The guy that I talked to knew that the name was wrong and pulled out the Loach book (it was signed by Jim) in an attempt to identify them. He also said that they came in two different shipments from their supplier in Chicago, but did not know their origin. I think some of them look like Botia kubotai. What do the experts here think?

I have had them for two days and I do not think that they behave at all like the kubs that I have had for the last 7 or 8 months. Instead of being a bit skittish (my kubs notice when I come in the room and disappear for at least a few seconds before coming back out) they have no fears and are out and about even when I flash pictures. They are about 1.25 inches or 3.2 cm TL. I hope that they are not hybrids.

Here are some pictures. Clown pictures will come later, since they do not like getting their picture taken.

Congrats on the new fish Keith! Some of those look more like my histies than kubs but all are cute (& what do I know?) Happy New Loaches to you!

All the best for the New Year..


I think a mix of B.histrionica and B.kubotai.

And possibly a b.rostrata in there if it isn't a Kub.

Has anyone done genetics on Botias? I can't see any consistent feature that separates them (in terms of colour anyway). They must be really closely related, eh? Nice fish though. Btw my kubs are very forward and are generally fearless. They are about 2-3 inches.

Thanks NancyD, Doc, and bslindgren. I agree that I most likely have some kubs, some histies, and some rostrata.

I'm glad you had a chance to stop by Aquarium World. Its a great place.
I saw those fish the last time I was there but can't remember what name they were being sold under. I also noticed that there seemed to be quite a mix of what looked like kubotai, rostrata and histrionicas. It will be interesting to what they look like when they get larger.
By the way, did you catch the name of the guy who waited on you?
I bet I know him.

Hi Jim. I failed to ask him his name, but I looked at the sales slip later and it said Cook was his name. 5 foot 8, thin, very short light brown hair. He knew you. I asked him which day you usually visit since I would like to meet you sometime (he said Thursdays). I will be going back again if they get some Sewellia lineolata in since I now have a second 75 gallon tank set up as a river tank.

I am pleased if that group consists of kubs, histies, and rostrata. They are eating so well that they are already fattening up a bit.

I really like the clowns that I got. I would have gotten more, but they only had four. I will try to get some pictures today.

In case anyone is curious, two more of my older kubs crossed the river bridge to the 300 gallon tank. Thus there are 4 kubs in the 300 gallon and 2 in the 75 gallon.

Mick- I am doing 10% water changes per day just to reduce the tea color from the tannins in the water from all the mopani wood that I have. It is not too bad, but is a little darker than I would like. When I set up the second 75 gallon tank as a river tank (which has no wood) its perfectly clear water really contrasts with the brown water in the other tanks.

The clowns have settled in enough that they let me take a few pictures. They are between 2.5 and 3.25 inches TL (6.3 cm to 8.2 cm TL). All of the new fish are currently getting a levamisol treatment.

congrats. The loaches look really great.