Loaches Online Forum

I brought home two “zebra loaches” to join one I had just gotten from another LFS. I did not look at them much (friendly terms with the fish guy, got a deal on the only two left, one was kind of thin, may or may not make it type of thing) until I got home. They were not striatas at all! I am only familiar with the botia family and kuhlis… and these are defiantly not one of them.

They are super small so it is hard to get a good picture (ok, i would have settled for a decent picture...), so sorry about that. Hopefully you can see the main points like the head shape and stripes.

I looked at the photos here trying to find one similar... i think i looked at all of them (easy to miss one) and started to think they could be Nemacheilus rueppelli… but I don’t know… it would be nice to have it figured out so i can find out if i need to take them back or if i want to stock with them and take the striata back. If you have any ideas please let me know!!!

pics are found here http://www.freewebs.com/fellowship-christian-chat/

That looks to be a species of Syncrossus probably either S. helodes or S. hymenophysa.

From the looks of it I would guess you have a botia dario...
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-dario

and...
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/syncrossus-helodes

Check out the species index for more information and possible id's.

worldrallynut wrote:From the looks of it I would guess you have a botia dario...
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-dario

and...
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/syncrossus-helodes

Check out the species index for more information and possible id's.

IMHO, it can never be a botia dario..

I'd go with MD. Looks like a juvenile S. hymenophysa.

It's definitely not a striata.
Here's an article on the differences between Tiger Loaches

They are all somewhat aggressive species...

Graeme Robson wrote:I'd go with MD. Looks like a juvenile S. hymenophysa.

I also agree with this based on those pics.

While I am the furthest thing from an expert here....
To me they definitely don't look like B. Dario, which are the only loaches i have atm.

thanks for all the replies. You are quick around here.

I believe they are hymenophysa because one has a very pronounced black dot on the dorsal fin. And i think i can see it on the other as well.

I can see the aggression today very well. The poor single striata is hiding in the very top corner of the tank to stay out of the way of the two little terrors. They are nonstop chasers.

I have learned my lesson, dont get so excited that i dont look closely at the fish to make sure they are what they said they are. I will be off to see if i can trade them in for some striatas or see about getting credit or something...

thanks for the help!

I would say the fish on the left is a striata (reasons in the paper I'm doing!). Fish on right looks like a young hymenophysa.

Spunky - any clearer pictures of the striata showing those markings?

Possible Czech striata loach! Or perhaps a new species? All in all, better pictures will solve this.

Graeme Robson wrote:Possible Czech striata loach! Or perhaps a new species? .

I'm certain the fish on the left is a striata, but cant let reasons out of the bag at the moment

No problem Steve!

tomorrow when i take the tank apart to get the little buggers out i will take a close up. the marking should be clearer then. Right now they are so small and the tank is deep enough that seeing what things look like close up is impossible.

I hadn't looked at this thread before. I'm with Steve on this. In the pic with the 2 fish the left one is a Botia striata and the other one is a Syncrossus hymenophysa. The striata does have quite a domed forehead which is where I think people are getting dario from. Sometimes you see strains of striata that have a more domed forehead when small.

We don't really see enough really small striata to be familiar with them. Normally, the stripe pattern is far more spread out than when they are around 1.5". So littluns look like this..........



I've seen quite a few around lately at smaller sizes. Once they get a bit bigger, they look like this............



As they grow the number of stripes increases and the large inter gaps fill in.





Martin.

i went in to see about taking the loaches back and while talking with the guy he admitted they were miss labeled, but thought i knew the diff.. in fact he said most of the time i come in knowing more than he does. I am rather embarrassed i did not look more closely....

Anyway, we made a deal that i can bring them in anytime i want. He did say that i could do him a favor and keep them awhile till they got an inch or two bigger before bringing them in. (still getting full refund) I would love to watch them getting bigger, but they just have a 10 gal Quarantine tank to keep them in.

Does anyone know...
how fast they grow? Does the aggression grow with size? (right now they leave each other alone... moved the striata, so he's safe) Once at least 3-4" would one do alright in a 75gal with my full grown JD? Or would my JD be in trouble?

I am growing attached, but would rather do right by them... what would you do? Take back now (to possibly die -they were stressed enough that they were not competing well for food) or feed them well for a few inches and the take them in?

here is the S. hymenophysa closer up... you can actually see the coloring and the dorsal spot... http://www.freewebs.com/somewhere-in-a-tank/