Loaches Online Forum

Hi all,

These little beauties came in a couple of weeks ago as "Burmese Banded Torpedo Loach - Schistura cf dorsizona":





Those were the only 2 pics I managed in the stock tanks (they are very shy of the camera) so I placed some into one of my photo tanks for better close-ups:











That's the end of my index finger for size comparison (they are tiny loachies):








Those are grains of sand on its head:




Don't know if you noticed from that first pic in the stock tank, but these loaches display the most amazing bright iridescent white-ish horizontal stripe along the flanks when they are swimming away from view. Apologies for the darkness of these next few shots, but I placed them into a very narrow tank and took pictures from the end rather than the front to try and demonstrate this better:









Anyone want to take a stab at confirming the ID?

Hope you enjoyed the pics,

Emma

Those are adorable, Emma.
Any idea what size they get?

lovely pictures, and lovely loaches!

very nice lookers Emma, according to fishbase they mark it at around 2 ins, and say it's from laos.

mick

Superb Emma (sorry Graeme) - I always look forward to seeing your photo's. Cheers Graeme.

S......

Beautiful little loaches Emma! I like the unique head-shape on them. Certainly a new species to the aquarium trade. I wonder if any of the boffings over at petfrd know which species they are.

Beautiful photos and even nicer fish. I need more tanks....

they are so cute, and quite tiny.

Doc's right

Nice fish and photos as usual!

We should be able to tell by looking in Fishes of Laos. I'll have a look in The Dark One Ichthyology Library tonight unless someone has a chance first!

Going by "Fishes of Laos" they look very much different to the fish pictured, the ones in the book lack the two spots on the caudal peduncle and also the ones in the book the stripes stop mid body.

I have no idea what the ID is, but they are very nice. I really like the close up pictures.

Thanks for the great comments everyone.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to have a peek in Fishes of Laos when Mick mentioned S. dorsizona are from Laos.... Like Mad Duff says, the pics of the preserved specimens don't match that well. The description in the book is as follows:

Schistura dorsizona
Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of genus by: 6-11 black saddles extending from middle of side across dorsal mid-line on a whiteish-yellowish background. Body slender, depth 5.9-7.8 times in SL. Large roundish black blotch at caudal base. Size up to 41mm SL.


Emma