New Schistura balteata

[Martin Thoene]

I got a few pics of these last night. I only got them in the early afternoon. They're feeding well already.















This entire shipment were pink. There's a possibility that the smallest one I have might be a bit yellowish. Harold was dissapointed that there weren't any yellow ones and that there was a huge differential in sizes.
The biggest were maybe a tad over 1 5/8" SL.

Martin.

[mikev]

Beautiful fish and pics!

How territorial are yours? Any problems with tankmates?

(I saw Balteata's today in vivo.... very beautiful, even if certainly juveniles, but I'm entering the Grrrr territory yet.)

[Martin Thoene]

They're alone in a Q-tank mike. I noticed some tail-slapping and such in the shop tank. Here, they seem ok with one another. There's masses of bogwood in the tank (thanks angelfish83) so there's a lot of cover.

They're very "aware" fish though. I walk in the room and there's an empty tank....then they pop out to see what's up. I think they worked out where the food comes from pretty quick.

Martin.

[Mark in Vancouver]

I'm anxious to see some photos taken under black light or with a flash in darkness or something. It seems to me that the two primary red bands must be central to the lives of these loaches. It's such bizarre marking. Like all animals with primary colours, they are obviously meant to be seen and recognized by other fish. I think of coral snakes when I see S. balteata. I wonder if they have a particularly bad taste to other fish/predators.

[Mad Duff]

Lovely fish Martin, I was considering getting a couple from Emmas but the tank that I had planned on putting them in ended up with my King Tigers in.

[Emma Turner]

Congratulations! How many did you get, Martin? I've had two shipments of these in two weeks running (so as to get a good number of them in whilst they are still available) and both shipments have contained a mixture of pinks, yellows, and darks. I have a feeling that the supplier Harold used to get his from got them from the supplier I got mine directly from.
With regards to the markings, I'm at a bit of a loss because mature adult fish loose all of these bright colours (and also pretty much loose all evidence of the vertical bands) and assume an overall purple-grey colour. I would have thought that juveniles would not want to be noticed and have more of a camouflage? Weird.

Here's one of my adults:


Which used to look something like this:


Emma

[Barracuda518]

Wow, I didnt know they lost their color as they got older.

[Graeme Robson]

Lovely additions Martin. We will have to compare ours as they mature. Here's one of mine.

[Martin Thoene]

Well these guys are pretty food conscious. I fed bloodworm this morning and one fish was eating from my fingers! Luv it when that happens.

Martin.

[Ola]

Could they be artificially coloured? Like Emma wrote, it is weird if they loose the colour when they get old.

[mickthefish]

ive got 6 of these beauts on a sand base, it drains the colour out of them except the bars and dorsal.

mick

[Martin Thoene]

Hi Ola! Nice to see you here. No, they're definitely not artificially coloured because mine have got substantially more colourful in the few days that I've owned them. Also, though they're far pinker than some of the current examples around, one or two have started to get some yellow suffusing into the tail and maybe a hint in the caudal peduncle.

Martin.

[Ola]

Hi Martin!
I use to check LOL at least once a week, but I am a terrible poor poster..

It is good to hear that the colour not are man-made, it is a beutiful fish!
A friend of mine who works at the NRM compared the Sumoloach with the types of S. balteata and it is not the same. There is some other options, but probably is the Sumolach an undescribed speices, closely related to Schistura cincticauda.

Does anyone know where they come from? I am told that they are catched in the mountains in northern Burma (Myanmar) close to the border to Thailand, but I am not sure that this info is correct?

/Ola

[Graeme Robson]

Hi Ola, Good to see you here. Have you seen this thread>> http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=3724

[Ola]

Thanks Graeme, missed that. If we find out something of importance about this spieces I will post it there.

/Ola