Loaches Online Forum

I have had this fish( in the very front) for 2 years and this evening was the 1st time I have EVER been able to snap some pics... as bad as they are... so do you think it's....Pangio kuhlii, Pangio semicincta or Pangio malayana... I really don't know I believe the other 6-7 to be kuhlii's but one might be semicincta... there is a seemingly black dot that's moving around on him... it's on the tank glass...

The Pangio with the big black joined saddle looks a lot like one of the pictures of P. kuhlii shown in the 1993 Kottelat & Lim paper, Fig 14a (bottom fish), collected in Johor, Malaysia. The black doesn't extend quite as far down the sides of your fish, though. Still possibly just a regional color variation. Have any crisper photos?

Not yet but he's been coming out a lot more lately now that I FINALLY caught him out of the old tank and put him back with his buddies I need to get some really good pics of his mouth! and of the other ones too...

Shadoj, the figure you refer to shows a specimen of P. semicincta as currently recognised. See paragraphs two and three in the 'notes' section here: http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.ph ... ta&id=1491

Oops, thanks for the correction. Only specimens from Java are actually called P. kuhlii now, no?
(I lament... Why oh why can't poor hobbyists like me access more recent primary literature on Pangio for free? Maybe I should stop even trying to identify any fish until that's the case). Sorry to confuse! I guess that means that P. semicinta is a possibility.

Only specimens from Java can be called P. kuhlii for sure yes, and believe it or not this means that the species has probably never been traded, or at least not in the last few decades.

She might be P. myersi. Their black markings are usually blocky while the other species of striped Kuhlis are more variable, generally saddle shaped or with spots. I say "she" because she's nice and chunky. Females are thicker than males. Her body usually tapers off from the vent back toward her tail fin, most noticeably when she's full of eggs. Either way, nice little fish.

LVKSLoachlady wrote:


I have had this fish( in the very front) for 2 years and this evening was the 1st time I have EVER been able to snap some pics... as bad as they are... so do you think it's....Pangio kuhlii, Pangio semicincta or Pangio malayana... I really don't know I believe the other 6-7 to be kuhlii's but one might be semicincta... there is a seemingly black dot that's moving around on him... it's on the tank glass...