picts of latest tank - are these Dario loaches or what?

[qumqats]

Despite being the first large tank I purchased, this odd shaped ( 54” x 33” x 24” ) tank has ended up being the last tank I actually get running. This is it. No more tanks. I’ve run out of room! The main delay was getting around to polishing the scratches out from the plexi. It’s turned out ok, but not flawless. The back of it still has some deep scratches that weren’t worth the effort and additional delay. The details to get a big tank running is mind boogling. Plumbing, electrical, custom stand, lighting, site prep, stocking, décor, etc. Whew!




There’s still more to do, but I think this is a good start!

---

Now for the real question. What the heck are these loaches? They were sold to me as Dario’s, but looking at the species ID pictures at loaches.com it’s obvious that they’re not. They look more like juvenile Histrionica to me. You might want to tell me that they’re juvenile Kubs, but as you can see from the pictures they’re the pretty much the same size as my Kubs yet look nothing like them. So unless they’re drastically developmentally delayed, I don’t see them being Kubs.

Adding to my confusion are the Kubs I’ve see at Petsmart. The 4 Kubs I have, I got at Petsmart ( a US pet chain of stores ) last year. They have them again this year. But the ones from last year look nothing like the ones this year. Last year, even when they were small, they looked like Kubs with the banks grown together and dots formed. The ones this year look just like the Darios I have, with unconnected bands and maybe just the faintest hint of the bands starting to grow together.

Are there different types of Darios or Kubs that develop their patterns at different rates?
Are hybrids getting into the market?
Was I sold Histrionicas instead of Darios?

For the complete album: http://gallery.outel.org/slideshow.php? ... GResidents
Otherwise here's some highlights.

A Kub and a Dario together


Bad pict, but Kub and Darios together


Kub


Dario with Kub in background


Darios


Enjoy the photos. I welcome any comments or thoughts.

[Graeme Robson]

Yeah they are defiantly Botia histrionica.

Nice looking tank set-up!

[plaalye]

My local Petsmart must have got fish from the same shipment as yours. Tiny little kubs that haven't yet developed their patterns. Some of them I'm not sure about, actually do look like Histies?
P.S. There are good articles on the development of Histrionica and Kubotai in the articles section.

[Rubix]

Petsmarts all over the country have been getting very small/young kubotai in the past month or two. They all have undeveloped patterns since they are so young, many of them are under an inch TL, too small for a place like Petsmart to be selling them. Nevertheless, I rescued five youngins a few weeks ago from my local Petsmart For what it's worth, they sometimes have good kubotai in stock, I scored my largest kubotai from them, it was at least 4 inches TL.

-Jamie

[palaeodave]

Histies, without a shadow of a doubt.

[Rubix]

qumqats could you go into detail about the workings of your filtration in the second picture? I'm beginning to plan my own custom filtration and intend to have it set up in July because I am moving again. I figure getting it up and running with my tanks at the new house is perfect timing, but I'm tired of moving every year!

-Jamie