Loaches Online Forum

We went fish store shopping across the border to a store called "The Fish Place" in North Tonawanda, NY. There was a tank there with 8 Eel Loaches hiding under a sponge filter. The fish store guy called them a "Golden Loach". With the loaches swimming willy-nilly in panic from the filter being moved we could not get a close look at them, but took all 8 of them regardless. Being somewhat "dumb as a stump", I acclimated them over the course of an hour or so and then released them into the tank, but never bothered to get a few pics while the opportunity presented itself. Here is where the "dumb as a stump" part comes in....... so they enter the tank cautiously and then proceed to collectively hide from view. Ahhh, I think to myself........ lets get a picture of them......... (Now Dave? Really, not during acclimation but now that they are hiding?........ "Dumb as a Stump"!) Several weeks later Tracy was finally able to grab a few very quick low light shots of different body parts of one of the "Golden Loaches" but never a full body, focused photo of an entire loach.

A positive ID can not be obtained from the head shot below but from the picture and our very scant observations we believe the loaches to actually be "Pangio anguillaris". The lateral line, colour of the body and the absense of nasal barbells, plus what appears to be the forming of the nasal growth is the basis of our ID. However, I am sure more experienced folks might be able to further confirm our finding or point us in another direction. Any takers? What do you think they might be? (photo was taken with a 100 MM macro lens at ISO 1600 under poor light. It has been tweaked to try and make the subject matter viewable)

yes, P.anguillaris

Its hard to tell for sure from the picture but it appears that they may have a distinct brown line down the midpoint of the head and extending down. Check out the Pangio cf. anguillaris entry as well as P. anguillaris on the main site. I would be fairly confident its one of the two, depending on the stripe.

Thanks for the responses! Now I have a question; the designation "Pangio cf. anguillaris", could someone explain the "cf"? Apparently Pangio anguillaris and Pangio cf. anguillaris are different? Working on getting better pictures but these little critters are constantly moving or resting out of sight somewhere.

cf means conform, that is, 'looks similar as'

Apparently P angularis is not the only specieslooking this way, there are more fishes looking this way. But these are not P angularis, or it is not (yet) confirmed they are P angularis. I think these fishes have some characteristic which is not typical for P angularis

When determining fish from photos, one is not Always able to see an important characteristic. For example, if the number of spines in the dorsal is important, and the pic does not show the dorsal, than a final determination is not possible. And than cfr pops up

The above may be a bit vaque - I myself don't know what makes a Pangio into a P angularis - therefore I could not be clearer

Well, they are certainly pretty whatever they are... cf angularis seems about as accurate as a definitive ID as we can expect... Can you please update pics as they adapt to your tank, sometimes fish change over time...that might be telling...but you might never "truly" know, that's sometimes the fun & frustration of our hobby.

OMG looks a lot like an enlarged nematode.... lol

The eye and fin would rule out nematode .

I look forward to any future pictures as this is certainly an interesting fish.

Still trying to get some better pics however I have only seen these guys once the daylight goes off and just the lunar blue lights are on. It is proving to be quite frustrating.

Uslanja wrote:Still trying to get some better pics however I have only seen these guys once the daylight goes off and just the lunar blue lights are on. It is proving to be quite frustrating.

Be patient, they are shy fish and often take a while to settle in. Try feeding a few minutes before lights out, slowly feed them a little earlier each day. Chances are they will start to come out before the lights go out to look for food before too long. This only works if your lights are on a timer so always go off at the same time. I highly recommend light timers, the fish get a better sense of the day night cycle and you don't have to worry about turning the on or off.

Thanks for the feeding suggestion. It makes sense. I have noticed one of them briefly during the occasional daylight period so hopefully they are getting more comfortable. The camera is right beside the tank.