Giant African Loach?

[Lacy]

Hello everyone, at the Lfs yesterday they had a Giant African Loach for 22.99. I couldn't see it anywhere in the tank so I asked one of them to look for it for me, since I have never heard of one before, but they could not find it. Since they only lifted one rock I am pretty sure it was buried they were just to lazy to look for it. My question is what the heck is a Giant African Loach, I looked online for any sort of reference and found nothing, leaving me to believe it is not a actual species. If anybody knows what it is or a website I could go to that describes it I would appreciate it. I am going back to see if I can get a less lazy employee to look for it for me.
Thanks

[Mad Duff]

I could be wrong (and probably am), I think there are only a couple of African species of Loach. There is Nemacheilus Abyssinicus which I think only reaches around 4cm and there is Cobitis taenia which has been found in areas of Northern Africa neither of which could be classed as giant. However it could possibly be Amphilius platychir which is often reffered to as the African Loach Catfish.

[Mike Ophir]

I know of a loach species that lives in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia that is known as the Ethiopian Loach (Nemacheilus i forget the species name).

Dunno if thats the one.

Mike

[Mad Duff]

Thats the Nemacheilus Abyssinicus Mike, it was considered endemic to Lake Tana but can also be found in the Gojeb River, a tributary of the Omo River in south-western Ethiopia.

[piggy4]

Hi Mark , must say i've always fancied keeping Amphilius cats , stunning creatures , i've heard they dont travel to well , due to their oxygen rich requirments ? have you ever tried them ? sorryif i've hijacked this post [african loach] to talk about Amphilius .

[Mad Duff]

I have had two species of Amphilius before, I had both Amphilius Atesuensis and Amphilius platychir both of whish were lucky finds at Frisby Aquatics in Hull some years back.

They shared a tank with a pair of Pelvicachromis Subocellatus and a large shoal of Alestes Imberi, they did really well for quite a while but I eventually lost them after about 18 months.

[Martin Thoene]

I wasn't even aware of these fish. They look really cool....obviously hillstream type environment? Check out the pics here...well cool

http://users.ugent.be/~dadriaen/ACSI_workshop

Martin.

[piggy4]

Great little article Martin , should be easy reach that condition ha ha ha ha .
Mark do you ever get to KKC in hull ? used to have some nice Syno's !

[Mad Duff]

Mark do you ever get to KKC in hull ? used to have some nice Syno's !

I used to but not any more, when I was showing and judging I would go over there for a look around the shops every couple of months but I dont really bother much now.