Loaches Online Forum

Saw this cool new import on Aquarium Glaser's (Germany) website the other day. Wish my little store could afford to import from them. They always have really cool fish a critters.

Protomyzon pachychilus

http://www.aquariumglaser.de/backend/FC ... chilus.jpg

http://www.aquarium-glaser.de/en/news.php

Beautiful little fish!

Once again proven that loaches are the most beatiful fish. Damn you Germany for you're fine fish imports.

I was wondering when these little chaps would start entering the aquarium trade.

An adult specimen looks less colourful but still very nice!

Graeme Robson wrote:An adult specimen looks less colourful but still very nice! :D

Do you have a link to any pictures of Adults Graeme?

Here you go Les. (The adults do look nicer than i recall)

Juvenile:


Adult:(MrTree's Image)

Nice loach!
I'd like to raise, too.

nice...I wonder what's the max size on that fish.

Thanks for posting the images Graeme, i was not wanting to go snooping round the net while at work. Now that i'm home and have had a good rummage through google and blagged Susan's Athens access (the benefits of having someone working at a university!) i'm going to suggest that the adult image you posted is actually just a slightly older juvenile.

Google enabled me to track the 'adult' image Graeme posted back to a post by Mr. Tree on the AquaticQuotient.com forums. At the bottom of this thread there is a link to the paper:
Threatened fishes of the world: Protomyzon pachychilus Chen, 1980 (Balitoridae)

The first page of the paper is available for preview from the link above. There is a a small black and white image image showing the juvenile and adult forms (predictably) on the second page. The image of the adult in the paper shows a pale bodied fish with a distinct dark line along its side and paler markings along the back. Unfortunately i have not been able to find an accessible image in colour that matches these adult markings.

From the general noise from other forums i am guessing the high contrast colouring is lost in adult hood. From the one picture i have seen the adult is still a hansom fish that i would be proud to keep, however it also sounds like this fish has a very limited range and quite vulnerable. If it is being collected from the wild at the juvenile stage there is a huge risk of a population crash )-: certainly this turns me off from wanting to own them. I can only hope that given the attractiveness at a juvenile stage has led to them being captive bred for the aquarium trade.

Nice work Les! This certainly reminds me of a similer coloured Schistura sp which has a very limited range and is quite vulnerable.

Yowsers! if google has translated this page correctly they are going for 100 euros a fish!

Still not found any confirmed adult pictures...

LES.. wrote: they are going for 100 euros a fish!

They are the L-046 of loaches. But that price is in Germany, always cheaper there.

These are really pretty as juvenile but they grow into grey ugly adults .
Ps The schistura Prideii isnt all that rare in the wild as Nonn first thought ,we were talking last week and it seems that their population is quite strong ..

AGGGGGG!

Why did I get the Glaser list on Wednesday ! That a beautiful fish and it just made my wish list. Most likely no luck though as I am a broke collage student . Either way I did e-mail back for the price on this fish. I'll let you guys know what they want for it.

Wow...those are really pretty.