"cave angelfish" and blind loaches

[pierydys]

So we were watching the Planet Earth marathon on Discovery last night and they get to the cave episode. And they're talking about troglodytic fish and they show one they call a "cave angelfish". And I'm staring at it and thinking "That's no cichlid -- it looks like some of the fish on the LOL forum..." then they mention that it's from Thailand and now I'm almost certain it's a loach. It's got those huge fins like hillies and the cutest little loachy tail wiggle when it moves. Only, I'm having a heck of a time trying to find a scientific name or any information on it online. Does anyone know more about these guys? What are they most closely related to, and do they have an entry here? Not that I'm planning a collecting expedition to wipe out a critically endangered species or anything, I'm just utterly fascinated by them

[LoachOrgy]

i saw that. they had some fish living in acid. they adapted to it and would thrive in the acids...very cool! didn't they call those stalagtites cave boogies or something. bc it was a bacteria that formed and looked like snot...lol

[Jim Powers]

That was a homaloptera species.
The closest thing available would be one of the "lizard fish" type hillstream loaches.
Check out this LOL thread from several years ago.
http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives ... read=40921

[pierydys]

Jim -- Thank you, that's exactly the one. It's so *pretty*! I just did a search for the rest of the homalopteras and they are adorable. I want some! Heh -- fat chance they'll ever show up in any of our crappy local stores, though. I shall have to look into hillstream setups after the move, I suppose.

LoachOrgy -- Yeah, the livebearers in the acid were neat, too. I was wondering if anybody would actually be crazy enough to try to duplicate those conditions in a tank. I mean, wouldn't the stuff eat through everything you tried to contain it with?

[Martin Thoene]

Beat me to it Jim. I actually have that image saved in an online gallery I use.

Homaloptera thamicola


I've heard these guys literally climb waterfalls inside caves. We haven't made an entry for this fish merely because this image is the only one I've ever seen of the species. We don't have permission to use it for permanent use. Therefore the only cave loaches that we do have profiles on are all pictures from friends of LOL.

We make a point of discouraging interest in keeping them in captivity due to their very limited natural occurence and range.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pi ... ve-loaches

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Martin;
They showed these fish actually climbing waterfalls on "Planet Earth: Caves" . It was amazing.

[Vancmann]

they call a "cave angelfish". And I'm staring at it and thinking "That's no cichlid -- it looks like some of the fish on the LOL forum..."

Instead of the Cichlid angelfish, I would imagine this fish to look like a real humanoid Angel in a dark cave illuminated by a small flashlight. I think that is where the name angel came from imo.

[pierydys]

Jim and Martin -- There are clips of them climbing the waterfalls on the BBC Planet Earth site. Unfortunately, only people in the UK can download them I'm gonna have to bribe a friend to download and send it to me. I couldn't stop staring the first time around and want to watch it again.

Vancmann -- You're probably right -- they look kind of like snow angels with an extra set of wings. Either way, they're gorgeous.

[tglassburner]

i keep watching it on tivo, but it would be nice if we here across the pond could watch it online.

[Martin Thoene]

Good ole YouTube

Quality isn't great..............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMVo2dv3_c

Martin.

[pierydys]

Whee! Thank you, Martin! See the little tail wiggle as it climbs? It looks like it's dancing up the waterfall.

They look very plump for living purely off bacteria, don't they?