Loaches Online Forum

hi all,
this is one of Andys fish, i'm afraid we could'nt get it to lift it's fins up but never the less it's a great looking fish, ( he says jealously)

just a not to those intrested, some of the specks you can see in the pics are actually eggs, they are minute.
why she expelled them i don't know but i know an egg when i see one.



if the eggs are'nt clear i'll enlarge the pic to show you,btw they are green.

mick

Superb looking specimen!!

I wonder if the egg release was a defensive mechanism when stressed a little, maybe to divert the predators sense's.

possibly matey, i could'nt see the eggs when i was taking the pics only when i enlarged the pic to see if it was all in focus.
there's another thing i forgot to add when sorting the pics out i noticed the scales they turn up at the edge. i wonder why the do that?.
tomorrow i'll put an enlarged section of the fish up so you can see the eggs and what i mean about the scales.

mick

Sounds fascinating! Again i could think up the reason for the scales becoming raised as in making themselves a tad to spiky to eat or at least unappetizing.

Looking forward to the close ups!

If the eggs aren't visble to the naked eye how would they distract a predator big enough to eat the fish though? By their smell? Maybe she just liked the look of you Mick mate.

Anyway beautiful specimen and pics of a species I've not seen before. Also looking forward to the close-ups, especially of the scales.

mickthefish wrote:there's another thing i forgot to add when sorting the pics out i noticed the scales they turn up at the edge.

Yep - I've seen this on some of my close up pics of the species before now too. It's your thread though, so I'll let you put your pics up first! H. zollingeri is a fascinating species, quite cryptic but they make split-second stealthy dashes when frozen food goes in the tank!

Emma

Gorgeous loach!

Nice fish.
Unfortunately, putting the fish in a photo tank is about the only way you can get a good look or pic. They are so shy.

Emma, if you have some pics of them please put them up, as your camera is far better than mine.
Andy Pandy won't mind in fact he'd want you to.

mick

here's that close up, i could'nt enlarge it any more than this but you can see the eggs clearly enough as spherical green blobs i just hope you can see the scales clear enough.


cheers
mick

Ahh-yeah! Very interesting.

Here's a few old pics:









Emma

Wow! Mick & Emma those are cool pics! The detail is stunning!

That black fish is stunning!!!

Amazing pics!