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Leptobotia elongata article in Tropical Fish Hobbyist

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:06 pm
by Jim Powers
The May, 2010 issue of TFH magazine contains an article about the Imperial Flower Loach, Leptobotia elongata, written by Wesley Wong and Stan Stung.
The article contains interesting information about the fish in both its natural habitat and the aquarium. Its definitely worth a look.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:55 pm
by Batch
Anyone ever seen these for sale?

batch

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:16 pm
by plaalye
There were some on aquabid a few months ago with a hefty pricetag.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm
by Jim Powers
I wonder if some that have been for sale have been one of the other, more common Leptobotias.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:55 pm
by plaalye
I think these are the same fish that were for sale on AB.
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... leptobotia

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:35 pm
by Jim Powers
Those are probably the same fish that appear in the photos in the article.
The pics were taken by one of the authors of the article.
I think Mike Ophir who contributed to the loach book and posts here occasionally, kept this species once.

Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 10:45 pm
by Jeremy
They are the fish that got me into loaches. Once I have the budget I will have a group.

Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 10:52 pm
by Jim Powers
I was at Uncle Ned's in Millis, Mass. a few years ago and was told by someone at the store that they had sold some not too long before I was there. I'm not sure if they were the real thing or not. They were sold as Royal Clown Loaches.

Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:39 pm
by Jeremy
I talk to Ned on that a few yrs ago he said he never saw them on a list since then. From the discription he gave me I lean to them being the real thing.

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:33 pm
by Mike Ophir
Hi guys,

I was in the shop when Ned had them in, and I believe they were the real deal.....they were also huge! a good ft long, beautiful specimens, I bought a couple from him a few years prior to that from him, fantastic fish... they were very expensive though, about $100 per fish, maybe even a little more...didnt know they were so rare in the wild.

Mike O.

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:14 pm
by Martin Thoene
I think that Joe Loach had this species at one time too.

Pretty sure that Harold saw them on exporter's lists relatively recently too.

Martin.

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 1:31 am
by fugupuff
Most of all the previous imports of the "royal clown loaches" are of the easily confused Leptobotia pelligrini, which comes from Southern China, near Guangxi, Guangzhou, China. Many tropical fish are exported from that region, and that loach can reach nearly a foot in captivity. If you do not know what you're looking for, most cannot differentiate one from the L. elongata.

The reason I believe that L. elongata has never been exported is due to the location where they're found, which is upper Yangtze, and there are ZERO exporters from that region, and wild fish are not collected for hobby trade at all, making it near impossible for them to have been exported.

The fact that many people believe they've seen this fish in the past leads me to feel a bit frustrated and furthermore, nobody can show me an updated photo of one outside of China at this moment.

We just returned from our second trip to the region where this fish is found, and out of thousands of other fish, we found only 3 specimens of this fish. The locals say they've not even seen this fish for a long time already :(

Again, if people believe they've seen or kept this fish in the past, I would love to see photos of it, not saying that its impossible, but logically, it is near impossible. I've been tracking this fish for more than 10 years already.

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 4:43 pm
by dconnors
Wes, those ones you had for sale a few months back were amazing looking fish! The stuff you just brought in is also amazing! You are truly dedicated to your hobby! Thanks for bring so much cool stuff to the hobby here in the U.S.

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 6:34 pm
by plaalye
If they are that rare, maybe they should be left in the river?

Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 1:31 am
by fugupuff
plaalye wrote:If they are that rare, maybe they should be left in the river?
we helped fund a breeding project to reintroduce this fish back into the wild, in return we were given permission to obtain some of these beauties. hope that answers your concerns :)