Loaches Online Forum

Juvenile specimen? A lot of these are becoming available lately.

nice picture, those are some pretty cool fish. I only have one and it's got white dots.

Nice beaufortia. That is the bread and butter hillstream in my area.
Do you not see them much?

Very nice, picture and fish. In my area any of the hillstream loaches are few & very far between.

Nice fish !! But quite impossible to get them here

Thanks.

Jim, It's just been the usual Cheni's (or not) that have been around here. But now i'm finding more different species lately, which is good!

I guess I've been lucky. Even though the number of good lfs in my area is lower than it once was, I have always been able to find a good mix of all kinds of loaches, including hillstreams. I guess it could be that I am located between St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati, with Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky being closer. Generally speaking, stores may have access to suppliers from three states.
We usually have beaufortia all the time. H. smithi shows up several times a year .Chenis and gastros now show up a couple of times a year. And usually something new (please be sewellia and H. confuzona this time!!!) shows up every year.

Nice picture Graeme....I like the scattering sand particles!

I was looking at one of mine the other day. I've had them since some time in '99 if my memory serves me well. This guy seems to suddenly be showing signs of age and looks to be getting thin in the area above the pectoral fins. Note the sort of pinched in look.....



It's interesting to have kept them long enough to see them winding down their lives. The other 2 are still looking normal.

Martin.

That's quite the old-timer, Martin.
It must be all the tender loving care he has received.
I guess being "carry on luggage" didn't hurt him any.

No problems with being "carry on"......remember the P. cheni also came over and bred a few weeks later. I'm now wondering how long these guys can live.......obviously longer than cheni or Gastromyzon seem to do.

Martin.

Martin Thoene wrote:Nice picture Graeme....I like the scattering sand particles!

I was looking at one of mine the other day. I've had them since some time in '99 if my memory serves me well. This guy seems to suddenly be showing signs of age and looks to be getting thin in the area above the pectoral fins. Note the sort of pinched in look.....



It's interesting to have kept them long enough to see them winding down their lives. The other 2 are still looking normal.

Martin.

I suspected its not about the age but its got somekind of fish desease. I also got 2 specimens of Gastromyzon sp. SW01 with this condition, one of them have very thin body and probably already died since I can not see it again.

Could it be something similar to CWS as seen in botia species? Is there an estimated age range for these fish?

I would highly doubt that there's any likelyhood of it being a CWS or internal parasite problem. There have been no introduction of new fish for absolutely weeks and they all went through quarantine OK and are doing great.
I think it's just age. Gastromyzon seem to live around 3+ years and I'm betting that few people have kept the same Beaufortia as long as I've had these 3. As these have to be around 6 years old, I'm figuring that it's probably age. Like old humans losing body mass. The fish is beautifully coloured and eats well....its behaviour is totally normal.

Martin.

I'm betting its age also. The oldest hillstream I have had was a cheni that lived to be about 6. Hillstreams all seem to get this same thin look of your fish when they get old. Then, when the color goes, so usually do the fish.
My P. fasciatus all seemed to die right at 4 years.
I presently have a very large 2.75" beaufortia that was about 2.5 " when I got him 5 years ago. Who knows how old he really is. He still eats well and looks fine, but I suspect he doesn't have that much more time. I have a sinogastromyzon who is nearly as large as the beaufortia that is of a similar age.

Perhaps my suspicion is wrong.

I suspected its a desease because its have smaller size than other and I see it not so long after I brought them from lfs.

Its have thinner body, paler color, slower movements, but still eat well??
One already "disappear", but the other still exist til now.