Loaches Online Forum

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:59 pm**

In tonight's fish shipment were these new "Sumatran Mini Royal Loaches", which had been listed as "Cobitis cf. sumatranus". They are quite slender and at first glance look like a cross between Misgurnus/Lepidocephalichthys/Acantopsis!

Better pictures will follow in due course, but here's a few showing them on arrival (taken in near darkness):

And just after being released from the bag:

Size is 1.5" TL.

Emma

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:08 pm**

Superb!!

They look interesting! I'm sure you will have them in tip-top condition soon, Emma!

Very nice indeed!

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:34 pm**

those are cute little fellas.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:28 am**

Wow !! They're really cool !! Not seen them before.
Thanx 4 sharing..

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:14 am**

Those are really neat Emma.
Is there a reason why there is a leaf in the bag?

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:09 am**

Very nice Emma

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:03 am**

Thanks all.

Casey, that's a dried Indian Almond Leaf (Terminalia catappa) which have various uses. In this case, the supplier uses them for delicate fish that may be more sensitive to the shipping process. The leaves release natural substances into the water and have anti-bacterial properties. Other people use them to replicate blackwater conditions in their tanks or for encouraging difficult-to-breed species to spawn. I use them in the filter of my River Tank where the two Sewellia species bred.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/man ... _Leaf.html

Emma

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:22 pm**

Oh ok. Thanks for the info Emma. Another little tidbit to tuck into the brain.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:20 pm**

oooh.
very cobitis-y.
oh hang on, they are cobitis.
ahem.

they're lovely - temperate or tropical, she said hopefully?

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:34 pm**

Very nice

Do these guys have similar reqirements to other Cobitis species? I'm wondering if they might be suitable for a river tank.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:06 pm**

Hey Whitey....how you doin'? I heard that Sheffield became a River-Tank.
Ok where you are?

Martin.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:50 pm**

Martin Thoene wrote:Hey Whitey....how you doin'? I heard that Sheffield became a River-Tank.
Ok where you are?

Martin.

I managed to miss all the excitement up here on the hill- the worst I've suffered is getting my boots wet

There have been power cuts in some parts of the city, but we've been lucky here. You're not far off with the river tank- I've heard stories of koi swimming through the streets. A lot of cleanup still to be done, but it's pretty much buisness as usual.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:37 am**

Not got my books to hand as I'm at work, but possibly Kottelatlimia pristes or Lepidocephalus weberi?

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:57 am**

Interesting! I will try to get some better pictures over the next few days to make IDing easier. The supplier claimed this was a brand new species, but it may be that they couldn't ID it.

Emma

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:22 pm**

The.Dark.One wrote:Not got my books to hand as I'm at work, but possibly Kottelatlimia pristes or Lepidocephalus weberi?

There's an image of a preserved specimen of K. pristes on Plate 28 of Kotelat et al's FF of Western Indonesia and Sulawesi.

In the same book, see page 81 that discusses some Acanthopsoides. Page 80 gives a key to the genera which will be useful in pinning down the genera (although Kottelatlimia wasnt used then). I seemed to think I have the info on how this genus is different somewhere.