Is this common/natural variation in Pangio oblonga color?

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joclru
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 12:45 pm

Is this common/natural variation in Pangio oblonga color?

Post by joclru » Fri Feb 26, 2016 5:20 pm

When I made my first post a while back, I had an oddball show up in a shipment of P. kuhlii. After seeing it better and learning more about the genus, I realized that it was probably a P. oblonga, perhaps a P. pangia, that was just at the lightest end of their color range. In fact, I found several more at the LFS that were indistinguishable which confirmed to me that I wasn't in for any grand surprise in terms of the "true" identity of that specimen. In the meantime, I have only become more enamored with these loaches, both striped and black/chocolate/cinnamon (no regularity in the common naming of P. oblonga types).

I was browsing the displays at a local PetSmart and saw some "Black Kuhli Loaches," what their website describe as P. oblonga. I have bought three of these from a different PetSmart before—compared to my light colored little guys, these are far larger (maybe just older), darker, and more gregarious. The ones I encountered the other day were similar in body size to the others I have seen at PetSmart in terms of being large. However, at least two of these three had a striking coloration different from what I can find any record for.

The entire lower portion of the body, cleanly demarcated horizontally across the entire body, is an iridescent gold color. Imagine putting a regular P. oblonga in Microsoft Paint, making a horizontal line across the middle of the body, and making everything below it a shiny gold. That's what these guys looked like! Needless to say, I brought them home. 2 of them are indistinguishable for the most part, a third looks more like a typical P. oblonga with just a little bit of shimmer under the right lighting. After a few days in the tank, these two bi-colored newbies are acting pretty much like any other Pangio though they spend far more of their time swimming at the top of the water in such a way that there is no doubt they'd have escaped if not for my tight-fitting lid. When I can see the tank, about 50% of the time they are swimming in the top half of the tank while that would be true for the others in the tank about 5% of the time (including the more conventional looking one of the three I purchased).

A link to a photo album is below, in which you will see in the background some of the tankmates. I'd love to hear any ideas as to whether these beautiful Pangio sp. are just a striking variation of the typically dull P. oblonga or P. pangia or if they are something else that I haven't yet encountered in my research. They do not fit any of the other profiles here in the database, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be something else that isn't yet listed.

http://imgur.com/a/dM3kw

Uslanja
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 12:20 am
Location: Ridgeway, Ontario, Canada

Re: Is this common/natural variation in Pangio oblonga color

Post by Uslanja » Sun May 01, 2016 2:36 pm

New to keeping loaches but the look is very similar to eel loaches that I purchased and were called "Golden Loach". Unfortunately the 8 that were purchased have not been seen since they were installed so there are no photos to positively identify from. Have you made an identification yet?
Dave & Tracy; Loving, Caring and enjoying Creation.

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