"Peppered Botia" ID Needed

[Jayhawk]

First off, I'm thinking these guys or a Cobitis or Lepidocephalichthys species (maybe guntea), but I found them at the LFS and took advantage of their bag bound captivity to snap a few photos.

What species do you all think?





There are two in the bag - one around 3-4 skinny inches, the other only about 2 inches.

Thanks,

Eric

[Diana]

This isn't a '"Peppered Dojo"?

[Jayhawk]

They're definitely not dojos...just mislabelled by the pet store and the shipper/supplier.

Anyone else have a guess or positive ID?

I put the pictures up as "best for the web" to reduce size...I do have larger 6 mp images if necessary and am happy to take more pictures (if I can find them in the planted tank) since I'm playing with a new Christmas camera.

Eric

[mickthefish]

i'm not a 100% sure but i had a few L guntea with the same markings as yours Eric.
once you have a bit of weight on them it could be easier to give a poss ID.

mick

[Jayhawk]

Diana - my apoligies - googling "peppered loach" I came up with several sites calling L. gutea the peppered dojo...so you may well be right.

mickthefish - they are skinny...hopefully they will fill out with time. Should I go back and pick up a third? The tank is a 36" long 33 gallon tank, and I didn't want to overstock it (I can move two giant gouramis, C. fasciata, if need be, to free up bioload space). How active did you find these loaches to be?

Thanks,

Eric

[mickthefish]

go get it eric, if your filtration is up for it i dont see any need to move the fasciata.
as to how active hmm at feeding time very at other times they can be seen somewhere in the tank.

hope this helps
mick

[Thomas]

Hi Erik,

i agree with mick and would say too it's a guntea male.

Thomas