Loaches Online Forum

Hello- I've had these for going on two weeks now and have had a great time trying to identify the (4 or 5) species. Any input would be appreciated. I'm thinking the topmost is g. Viriosus and I'm pretty sure the bottom right is hypergastromyzon humilis. The one I'm really curious about is the second from the top with the reticulated markings. I believe the remaining three are g. Zebrinus or at least the two darker ones are. I have lots more pics if that would help. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific collection data other than Borneo. Thanks for looking!

Austen

Here are some more photos of the reticulated one.

That's a very nice mix of hillstreams! I'm jealous!
I would agree with all your IDs.
As for the reticulated one (and possibly the light colored fish directly below it), they could possibly be cranbrooki, but I am not by any means positive.
I have seen pictures of gastros like this lately on other websites and there seems to be some question as to what they are.
More pictures might help clarify things.

Thanks, Jim! These originally came in a group of 12 and after receiving this group I caved and bought the other 6. So now I have at least two of each. Looking at the full complement I'm convinced the lighter "zebrinus" is a different species or variant. Here are a few more pictures of both the reticulated and the lighter one.

http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/atmic ... eticulated

http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/atmic ... ow/Lighter

I am still not sure. Whatever they are, they are nice looking fish. Did you get them in a store or online?
Also, what country are you in?

I got them from gunpowder aquatics in Florida (Richard Gelok). I'm in Detroit. I've put Dr. tan's book on my Christmas wish list, fingers crossed! Thanks for your help! Regardless of species, these are some great looking fish.

Dr. Tan's book is good. Maybe you will be able to ID them after looking through it yourself. Sometimes it helps to look through the different species descriptions and collection notes to see what other type of fish occur in the same streams. Often times you will see that several gastros could be collected together and that might narrow your search.
Since you got them in the US I will keep my eyes open for them. Lately it seems like the only gastros I see are pure shipments of scitulus or ctenocephalus. I used to find them in mixed shipments of two or three species most of the time.

Here's the reticulated one after coming out of qt. Almost black it's so dark!

what was his lable for those guys? i've bought hillstreams from gunpowder a few weeks ago, some of them look like what you have.

Richard didn't have a label, we were both trying to figure that out. Right now he has them listed as a "grab bag".

i saw that, but i just assumed it would be random ones from what he has labled and instock already. i've been doing some intense googling and finding alot of scientific articles on gastromyzon, but its all scanned books (many with black and white photos) so its very hard to see the photos for a good id. (i'm a visual person and just reading a desciption doesn't help me).

I understand, I'm the same way. I finally caved and bought Dr. tan's book. I think I'm getting closer to an ID.

I hope you do. I tend to be visual on the ID's myself and Dr. Tan's book helps, but it also helps if you can look at the fish up close and not in just a pic.

i'm hoping to get tans book for christmas. i don't mind the pics, because it keeps me from running back and forth between the tank and my computer

what do you have it narrowed down to?

Actually that's what I meant. I can take the book to the tank and get a better comparison. Dr. Tan's book is helpful in that it has pics of live fish, not just the pickled, colorless specimens that make identification difficult at best.