Loach Identification

[TheArcane]

I was at one of my nicer fish stores the other day, and was looking to pick up a couple new loaches. They had several they were selling as "Burmese Border Loaches", and I ended up buying three of them. What I find confusing is that they don't look like the Botia kubotai that I normally see referred to as Burmese Border Loaches. I took a picture of one of them, and have posted it below. To me they look a little more similar to Botia rostrata.

[bookpage]

The young look quite different from adults. Take a look at this web page:

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-kubotai/

[TheArcane]

These guys are about 2 1/2 inches right now. The last two I had of Botia kubotai had their more adult pattern by then.

[DainBramage1991]

To me this looks very much like a Botia Histrionica with it's adult coloration/pattern coming in. I've got 6 of them that are just under a year old, and they all look just about like that (with some individual variation, of course). They're all around that size, also.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-histronica

The other species that this little guy resembles (like you said) is Botia Rostrata. I don't have any personal experience with those, but the similarity is definitely there.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-rostrata

I think it's unlikely that this is a Botia Kubotai. While similar to Histrionica and Rostrata, they usually have a horizontal stripe along the lateral line connecting the vertical stripes, which is often present even in juveniles. Also, as they mature the pattern tends to fill in. Of course, these are typical patterns, there are always individual variations (which make it more difficult for us to ID them).

[TheArcane]

I do have one of these guys who is quite a bit smaller than the other two, with him being about an inch and a half long. If I compare him to the fish in these two articles...

http://www.loaches.com/articles/botia-r ... ing-growth
http://www.loaches.com/articles/botia-h ... ing-growth

He does have dark markings on his dorsal fin, unlike the young Botia rostrata shown in the article. However he has more overall dark pigmentation than the Botia histrionica in the second article. I will try to post a picture of him shortly.

[DainBramage1991]

My own observations with B. Histrionicas are that as juveniles their vertical bars tend to be solid and usually have no horizontal component to them. Again, this is "usual", I have a couple of fish that vary from this pattern somewhat.
As they mature, the vertical bar will often split, resembling the shape of a "B" or an "8".
These are my own observations, with my own fish. I post them only to be helpful, and I don't claim to be any kind of expert whatsoever.

Looking again at the picture you posted, I'd have to lean toward the rostrata as the most likely species in my opinion. The reason I say this is that the pattern of the vertical bars more closely resembles an "H", which is typical of the pictures of rostratas that I have seen.

[zenins]

My own observations with B. Histrionicas are that as juveniles their vertical bars tend to be solid and usually have no horizontal component to them. Again, this is "usual", I have a couple of fish that vary from this pattern somewhat.
As they mature, the vertical bar will often split, resembling the shape of a "B" or an "8".
These are my own observations, with my own fish. I post them only to be helpful, and I don't claim to be any kind of expert whatsoever.

Looking again at the picture you posted, I'd have to lean toward the rostrata as the most likely species in my opinion. The reason I say this is that the pattern of the vertical bars more closely resembles an "H", which is typical of the pictures of rostratas that I have seen.

I have yoyos, kubotai, rostrata and histrionica loaches.
I agree with this assessment.

[mophir01]

I am 99% sure this is a young B. rostrata, I had a group not so long ago that looked exactly the same...