Loaches Online Forum

Hi!

I'm Paul, I'm new to the forum but not to fishkeeping. I have 10 tropical tanks and my major interest is catfish.

However, I do have some loaches too, and I've got a question about them. I have a small Asian-themed tank with a group of 10 Pangio loaches, plus a honey gourami; the tank has been set up a couple of years now with the same stock. Earlier this week I had a close look at my loaches while doing a water-change and tidy-up, and realised that there was more variety among the group than I had realised. So I thought it would be good to check out which species they are. I've had a look at the Pangio species on this website and I'm still not sure. Hence this post.

So, there are a total of 10 Pangio loaches, and they are all now between 3" and 4" long. 7 of them are all brown, and I'm fairly sure they are Pangio oblonga. Then there are 3 stripy ones, which I had assumed were all Pangio kuhlii, but now I'm not so sure because there is significant variation in the colours and patterns. I've linked some images from another forum below, because I couldn't see how to upload images directly - I hope this is OK. Sorry for the quality of some images; I'm sure you know it's hard to get good pictures of loaches!

This - we'll call it fish #1- one is what I think of (perhaps wrongly) as a 'normal' kuhli, but it might be a semicincta:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8305;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8321;image

These two pics show fish #1 in the background, and fish #2 in the foreground. There is a clear difference in the colouration, but could still be kuhli, semicincta or maybe myersi?:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8337;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8353;image
And here's fish #2 on its own:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8385;image

Now, here's fish #3, firstly on its own and then in comparison with some others. This one is really different; it seems to be entirely deep gold and black, with a very regular pattern. It doesn't really look like any of the images I found on the species database:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8289;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8241;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8257;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8273;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8369;image

The brown loaches are very active and all 'dance' together. The stripy ones are less active and tend to be more solitary, but sometimes join in the dance with the brown ones. The gold and black one in particular is a bit of a loner, but it's very striking.

I've got plans to free up another slightly longer tank for these guys, and maybe get them some more friends if I know what to look for.

Any thoughts or advice would be very welcome!

Cheers,
Paul

Hey Paul! Beautiful "snakes" Really well coloured.
Yep, Your observations are good. The first one looks like typical 'kuhli' to me. Second and third are IMHO the same species P. myersi. The pattern of them is not always the only one, and it can vary - so IMHO this beautiful pattern of the second fish is just a variation.
Cheers!

Thanks very much

A couple more pictures of the big 'snake' with the distinctive even pattern and black/gold colouration. On close inspection it looks rather fat, or possibly gravid?

http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8681;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 8697;image

It is possible that it is a female - which are usually more "massive" than males.

The black and gold one is really nice looking- such rich colors, and even pattern.

So, I've moved the snakes into their own tank, hopefully set up to suit their needs. They've got fine black sand, rounded pebbles, small ceramic tubes, leaf litter, java ferns and floating plants above, and the tank is filtered with an HMF, with the heater and a load of alfagrog behind it.
They've settled in over the past couple of weeks and I took some more photos this afternoon, which have come out reasonably well.

So, here are some portraits of my Pangio loaches in their new home, including all three species showing the differences.

My favourite loach, a P.myersi that is all black and gold with a very even pattern:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6249;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6297;image

Comparison of all three species:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6265;image

P. kuhlii and P. myersi:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6281;image

Some other nice pics:
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6201;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6217;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6185;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6233;image
http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/ind ... 6329;image


Now I need to get some more, and then see if I can encourage them to spawn...

Very Nice!