Loaches Online Forum

I was at this guy's house for a local aquarium club function, looking at his tanks. He's a cichlid guy, but has one planted tank, and one kuhli in that planted tank. This kuhli was, to me, incredibly strange and beautiful - as I recall, a very pale yellow/beige with minimal erratic markings. My husband and I ooh and ahhed and I mentioned offhandedly as we were leaving that if he ever wanted to part with the kuhli, to call us first. To my surprise, he said we could have it... when he could catch it. He says the fish is about seven years old, and that he used to have more, but they've died over the years, and he'd be happy to give him to someone with other kuhlis. Anyway, we were hoping to pick the kuhli up at our monthly club meeting last night, but the guy didn't have enough time between work and the meeting to catch him successfully. However, he's moving the tank in the next couple of weeks, and he's going to catch the fish and we'll pick him up then.

So since I'm excited about the new kuhli, and sad we didn't get him last night, here's some pictures of the existing gang. Feel free to shed some light on the species:

This is the biggest one ('Big Stripey'). I'd posted pictures of him before, and it was suggested that this was P Myersi. The colors are more saturated than this picture shows; he's really a beautiful rich orange and chocolate:



Here's that same one (unfortunately the last one of him in this series) with our first pangio, 'Yellow Stripey.' Yellow Stripey was alone in the LFS - apparently had been living in the filter or something, was rediscovered, and put back for sale. We believed him to be P Kuhlii:



Here's an action shot of 'Yellow Stripey':



And now here's 'Weird Stripey' along with Yellow Stripey. Werid Stripey was purchased along with Big Stripey at another pet store. They were trade-ins. Weird Stripey looks a lot like Big Stripey, but he's a little bit smaller (but not as small as yellow stripey), and his colors are more faded than Big Stripey:



Also, his caudal fin is half colored, half white, like a P. Kuhlii, not a P. Myersi:



When I posted pictures of Weird Stripey before, it was suggested that he was a P Kuhlii, but how could this be the same species as Yellow Stripey? Except for the faded color and the coloration of the caudal fin, he looks a lot more like Big Stripey (Myersi) than Yellow Stripey (Kuhlii)...:



... unless Yellow Stripey is something else, and I actually have three different species?



I keep going through the species directory, and I'm just not sure of anything anymore.

Except I'm pretty sure this is P Oblonga. I actually have two, but only one wanted to pose:


This is what happens when you love pangios, but can only find one or two at a time.

Stunning pics of truly beautiful Coolies !

Wonderful pictures, zmo!!

Your kuhlis are beautiful. I have some that remind me of your "Yellow Stripey", but on mine the black color is dull, and the stripes are beige, with white bellies.
And I have several that are like "Big Stripey--big black bars, orange stripes, and I noticed that at least one of them has a striped belly.

I hope someone can help you identify them. I'll be checking back to see what they say.

Beautiful fish. I'm getting more and more tempted to set up a tank for some kuhlis.

thank you everyone! I'm still hoping someone could shed some light on the variation in stripe colors - yellow and orange.

Loachmom, my yellow stripey also has a white belly - i'll post some pictures of it, because it's totally different from the others' bellies, which have the stripes going all the way across, just like you're seeing.

Whitey_macleod, what's one more tank, right?

I would imagine that the yellow and orange ones are from different locations. Variants happen alot and with Pangio's you can often find some jazzy looking chaps. Keep observing them and tell us which ones become gravid. It would be interesting to see if it's the yellow or orange ones.

Superb pictures!

Nice Pangios.

I couldn't tell without studying this page.
My kuhlis all look the same...Nice pics BTW.

some more pictures showing their cute (and varried) bellies:

Yellow Stripey:


Weird Stripey:



Big Stripey:



I haven't noticed any of the striped pangios becoming gravid, but if you look closely in the picture of the oblonga, I think you can see the beginning stages there - at least, I think I can see a greenish bulge.

Great pictures again!!

Those striped bellies look a lot like my kuhli's. I don't know if I'll ever get any pictures though, since they often hide when I get the camera close to the tank.

Thanks for sharing.