Loaches Online Forum

Good evening--new to this fish and this forum. I've had this particular fish in a tropical aquarium setting for a month or two, having been led by LFS to believe this fish did not have specific flow/oxygen needs. I don't expect much from the kids at the LFS because I normally do my research. I feel bad for not doing it sooner in this case--I'm working on building a long narrow tank with a manifold per Martin's design. For now, the fish eats and moves around the 37g tank, supplemented with an air stone, enough for me to know it's healthy.

I'd like to introduce a few more S. lineolata to the hillstream environment once I finish building it. I have read through most of the great resources on this site, and saw the guide to sexing them, but I only have in-person experience with this fish, so I wanted to ask people who would know. Here she/he is:



Pec fins make me lean toward female...



Slope of nose makes me think twice.

Is that just paralysis by analysis?

Also, I'm considering making my hillstream tank a S. lineolata species tank--any drawbacks to that? Any benefits from including other species?

Looks to be female. Males usually have "fences" on their pectoral fins and more of a angle rather than the female's "round" fins.

Probably female.

Species tanks are nearly always the best.

Great. Yes, those pronounced fences are missing, so that makes sense. Thanks for the help!

Late to the game but the squared off pectorals say male to me vs rounded off fins for females, meh on the "fences" from what I've seen...

Thanks NancyD--I still haven't observed any pairing, but the tank is relatively new, so I guess we'll have to wait and see!