New Homaloptera smithi (maybe?) pictures

[zmo63]

I grabbed nine of these at one of our local auctions, for less than $2 a fish. The nice thing about being known as the loach lady, is that people usually don't bid against me

I'm overkilling on the pictures, but I was curious which species you all think these are. Some of them are colored quite differently.

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And a couple pictures of the other inhabitants -
Schistura savona:



and Schistura corica:


Wish I could take clearer pictures - I'm working on it!

[Jim Powers]

They look like H. smithi to me (at least most of them)...and nice ones too. There is quite a variation in pattern in this species.
There are some that look as if the pectoral and pelvic fins might not overlap. Its hard to tell for sure in the pics, though. If that's the case, they would be H. tweediei. The tweediei I have seen have all been a bit more heavily marked than the typical smithi.
Both species behave similarly.
By the way, the savona and corica are looking good.

[Emma Turner]

Very nice! I also think most, if not all the ones in the pics are H. smithi. Have you noticed how stealthy they can be at feeding time? Dashing off of their resting place to catch a bit of food and returning to exactly the same position within the time it takes to blink.

Emma

[zmo63]

Thanks, Jim and Emma!

Emma, yes, feeding time is fascinating. Everything they do is so fast, I usually am watching the wrong one and just see some movement out of the corner of my eye.

Jim, I've been studying the fins. Every one I look at seems to be at least touching, if not definite overlap. For now I'm going to assume they're all smithi, but I'll keep watching. I can never find them all at once.

The coricas have been doing great since day one... the savonas, well, most look great, but some are getting skinny again. I've been having trouble with them from the start, so I think I'll try levamisole again. I do see the skinny guys eating.