A week ago I received a shipment of what were described on the supplier's list as "Black Belt Loach -
Schistura cf melarancia". I managed to take a few pics in the stock tank the other night - which was difficult as these little loaches (2"TL max) would not stop dancing about! However, since looking at the photos, I see no evidence of a 'black belt' running from gill opening to caudal fin base as in the description on Fishbase. Some of them do look very
S. corica-like, but some are light, some dark and some with very different patterns to the next fish. They are not behaving typically for
S. corica though - before now, upon importing that species, they have created a war zone in the confines of the stock tanks. These seem friendly with one another and are playing about together and with some of the new
Garras quite peacefully. There is also a contaminant in with them, which I believe to be a juvenile
Acanthocobitis pavonacea, which would then suggest these loaches are Indian (
Schistura corica? or something similar?).
The loaches: (please excuse watermarks/scratches/algae)
With one of the new Clown
Garras, which I'll show further down:
Tiny contaminant:
This was listed as a newly discovered species of
Garra from Burma and for now has been given the Clown
Garra (
Garra cf. flavatra) nametag:
But I think these, also listed as a new species, are
amazing. Also claimed to be from Burma, these were assigned the "Samurai
Garra (
Garra cf. flavatra)" nametag and were available only in a limited quantity and the supplier ran out after 1 week (we got 25 of them). The photos do not do them justice - when they raise their dorsals, they are bright red & yellow:
Again, these were listed as a new species from Vietnam (also limited in quantity) and came in with the "Vietnamese Giant Golden
Garra (
Garra cf. vietnamicus)" name. Subtle, but pretty:
And just for good measure, here is a quick shot I took of one of the Laos
Syncrossus (yellow tiger loach) which has unusual markings. Seen here with a
Schistura cf. balteata:
Emma
