Behold the Barbucca!
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:05 pm
These beautiful Barbucca have been in for almost a week now, and this evening I managed to capture a few shots of them. 
They are very active, but shy of any movements outside the tank, so I had to stay still for ages before I was able to start taking pics. And then I had to make very slow movements as they are very easily startled.
These are very beautiful loaches, and behave completely differently to any hillstreams I've seen. The way they constantly move and browse about reminded me of a cross between a hillie and a kuhli loach for some reason.
This is another hillstream species with amazing chameleon-like colour change abilities - extremely darkened when perched on the bogwood (almost jet black) and much much lighter on the silica sand and grey pebbles.
I can't say that I noticed red eyes when I spent time watching them in the tank and taking pics, but I had quite a surprise when I got home and uploaded the photos. This is something strange, as I don't usually get red eye in my fish pics. Also, Andy R (piggy4) mentioned that when he'd kept Barbucca some years back, he remembered the red eyes....
As you can see, these chaps love to hang upside down! The sizes, if anyone's interested, are 1.75 - 2" TL.
I know there is currently a bit of debate going on as to the true ID of these loaches, but my supplier informs me of some interesting behaviour noted by the fishermen in past collections from Indonesia. Although small, they can be very feisty, and the fishermen commonly find the clown-loach bamboo traps full of Barbucca diabolica. The Barbucca, even at such a diminuitive size, evict clown loaches of a comparitively large size from the traps.
Emma
They are very active, but shy of any movements outside the tank, so I had to stay still for ages before I was able to start taking pics. And then I had to make very slow movements as they are very easily startled.
These are very beautiful loaches, and behave completely differently to any hillstreams I've seen. The way they constantly move and browse about reminded me of a cross between a hillie and a kuhli loach for some reason.
This is another hillstream species with amazing chameleon-like colour change abilities - extremely darkened when perched on the bogwood (almost jet black) and much much lighter on the silica sand and grey pebbles.
I can't say that I noticed red eyes when I spent time watching them in the tank and taking pics, but I had quite a surprise when I got home and uploaded the photos. This is something strange, as I don't usually get red eye in my fish pics. Also, Andy R (piggy4) mentioned that when he'd kept Barbucca some years back, he remembered the red eyes....
As you can see, these chaps love to hang upside down! The sizes, if anyone's interested, are 1.75 - 2" TL.
I know there is currently a bit of debate going on as to the true ID of these loaches, but my supplier informs me of some interesting behaviour noted by the fishermen in past collections from Indonesia. Although small, they can be very feisty, and the fishermen commonly find the clown-loach bamboo traps full of Barbucca diabolica. The Barbucca, even at such a diminuitive size, evict clown loaches of a comparitively large size from the traps.
Emma
they look amazing 
