Loach ID Please

[HylaChristine]

2 Different Loaches, the 2nd one is almost never visible, so they are not the greatest pictures.





2nd Guy



Hiding up in the driftwood here

[HylaChristine]

1st Loach

[HylaChristine]

2nd loach
2nd loach

[HylaChristine]

Here are pics of the 1st guy

[worldrallynut]

I would definitely say one is botia striata. http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_striata.html


The other looks to me like botia longiventralis http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/bo ... ralis.html

or botia pulchra http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_pulchra.html

Better pics might help of the second loach.

[poeticpyro]

totally agree that one is a botia striata *the one with the many thin stripes* or a zebra loach/ candy stripe loach... i have 2 and i'm looking to increase that number to five, they do best in large groups, the other i'm not sure... some type of botia definately.

[Mark in Vancouver]

The first fish shown looks to me like B. dario, and not B. striata. I'm looking at the shape of the fish, not the pattern, because no pattern is visible. I think a better camera or technique is called for.

B. dario:



B. striata, with the upside-down dario nose, as always:

[Desi]

I would agree with B. Dario. Was gonna say B. Robusta cause I have some and they look similar but after looking again I say more like Dario.

[ClownMob]

was thinkin b. striata at first myself, but honestly letting the camera focus better would help alot, especially the ones where they are being held, should be easy to get good focus.

i'm not familiar enuff with the other loach types to offer a proper guess, folks here know their loaches pretty good though. was just gonna show my 3 striatas for comparison.

they are young in these pics, so look a little different than Marks striata pic, markings not quite as full:




also not to jump in on your thread, but Mark how big is the striata in that pic? and how big would you say striata commonly grows, I've heard differing ranges from 3" to 5", thought more like 3" myself, but read different things.

thanks and sorry again hylaC for the hijack, back to your loach ID.....

[TammyLiz]

The one in the second post, labeled "first" looks like a young striata to me, and the one in the third post, labeled "second", looked like dario. (I have a new striata, btw. I coudln't just leave him there all by himself) Anyway, its hard to tell because the pictures are so unfocused. Probably your best bet to ID them would be to look at pictures of other people's fish and make the ID yourself if thats the best your camara can do. Maybe you're holding it too close? Some camaras have a minimum distance of like 3 feet to be able to focus. Try stepping back, then you can crop the edges out of the pictures before posting them.

[Martin Thoene]

OK, despite the fact that these photos will probably go down in the annals of LOL history as the worst we've ever been asked to give an ID from, I can actually quite confidently say what they are.

As TammyLiz says the first one is a young Botia striata. The emphasis should be on young. This is where the confusion with B. dario is arising. Young striata have groupings of fine stripes with larger yellowish gaps between them. In a fuzzy-wuzzy picture, they look superficially the same. In those later pics, you can actually see relatively clearly that it's not a dario. Even if the pictures were all fuzzy, there are too many stripes in the caudal fin (tail) for dario. As striata mature, the larger spacings of stripes fill in with finer stripes till the fish look like Mark's beautiful fish. Those are really nice Mark.

The other fish, despite no better pics I would put money on being Sinobotia pulchra.
Here's one bubble-bathing...............



Martin.

[Graeme Robson]

they are not the greatest pictures.

Picture quality can be a issue with some species, but your "want" for advice is most welcome. Good to see!

[HylaChristine]

OK, despite the fact that these photos will probably go down in the annals of LOL history as the worst we've ever been asked to give an ID from

LMAO Seriously, sorry about that. My digital camera battery is dieing I have a 3 month old son and for some reason I am going through bateries like nobodies business, but thank you for the responses!

[NancyD]

Thank you HylaChristine for being brave enough to post your pics. I'm still learning to use my mother's old camera & haven't figured out posting yet (o.k. or focusing either ) Mark, Martin, Graeme & several others here are not just loach "pros" but talented & patient photographers too.
Nancy

[ClownMob]

hylac hang in there on the pics. they'll get better.

if you camera has a "macro" or close-up option, turn that on for anything where the camera will be 2-5" from the main subject. otherwise, you should be able to look in viewfinder/LCDscreen and move the camera away until you see it capture focus on your subject. might help to clear them up a little.

also just practicing helps alot with taking better pics, trial-and-error on settings and flash and so forth, then remember what looks good and what doesn't and begin to narrow them down.

also to the others who commented, any thoughts on my striata size question? and how big are yours in the photo Mark if you stop by.


good luck with your loaches and your photos hylac.