Loaches Online Forum

Got a couple new hillstreams the other day which I've not seen before. Anybody got any ideas?

First one, zebrinus maybe?




Second one, almost like an ocellatus towards to the tail-end, but with different markings at the front and middle.



Sorry for the image quality, relying on my phone's camera at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Perhaps, G.crenastus.

Agree with Olly, maybe. Look very thin!

Thanks guys, I just googled G crenastus and a lot of the results do look just like them. Interesting, I'd never heard of this species before. They are indeed really thin, the shop I got them from had to call me back because they were sick with some sort of external parasite for 3 weeks before I could get them. Fingers crossed they'll perk up, got them in quarantine now and only one of them has shown interest in any food.

They need aufwuchs. IME gastros can be slow to take food, some never do. That looks like a new tank with no algae growth. If you can give them some rocks from a clean established tank to graze on it would help. Put some flat rocks in a container of nitrate rich tank water in the sunlight, maybe on a window sill.

Sorry I didn't specify, yes the quarantine tank has been newly set up for them so I've put a large-leaf fake plant in from an established tank for them to graze on. So far not much interest, although one of them did graze a little on an algae wafer yesterday evening. The skinnier one (2nd lot of pics) has hardly moved, I'm a little worried I may lose him. Will have a look tonight and consider moving them into an established tank with other hillstreams. It is a risk but other than the skinniness they look pretty good. No skin damage or blotchiness at least...

Scratch that...the less skinny one has died today. I've checked parameters for the quarantine and they are fine, added another ornament for the remaining one to graze on. Come on little fella keep going...

Sorry for the loss.

Will have a look tonight and consider moving them into an established tank with other hillstreams. It is a risk but other than the skinniness they look pretty good. No skin damage or blotchiness at least...

No, don't cut the quarantine short no matter what, you may destroy everything.

Skinny condition may be caused by *direct* parasites too, I had this with p.cheni and disparis. This may cause a total wipeout.

mikev wrote:Sorry for the loss.

Will have a look tonight and consider moving them into an established tank with other hillstreams. It is a risk but other than the skinniness they look pretty good. No skin damage or blotchiness at least...

No, don't cut the quarantine short no matter what, you may destroy everything.

Skinny condition may be caused by *direct* parasites too, I had this with p.cheni and disparis. This may cause a total wipeout.

Yes resist that urge by all means. You may end up killing them all. Unfortunately, it's common to find gastros in this shape. They're not properly cared for after catching and in transport. Oxygenate the water as much as possible.

I moved him into a busy 50 gallon yesterday, already by today he has settled and is nicely active. Not seen him graze yet but there is plenty of established coating/aufwuchs for him to find. Good to see it moving around and exploring the new tank rather than how life-less (ironically) they are in q tanks.

pH - 6.2 (we are on tank water so it is always quite low pH, though at least it is stable)
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 20ppm, remainder of an expected ammonia spike earlier in the week when I cleaned the cannister filter.

It's still early days, but I hope he/she settles in and puts on some weight. It's a very pretty specimen and definitely one I personally haven't seen before.

I can't say enough about Repashy Soilent Green gel food for hillies of all kinds! An aufwuchs susbstitute that most fish love! Try it!