Mystery Loach

[peck1023]

I have a loach I bought at a LFS. Initially, I had wanted a burmese loach (botia histrionica), but the store didn't have them available. So I asked if they had any other loaches in stock, other than a clown loach, and they said they had one yo-yo (which I knew nothing about). When I went onto the LFS website to look for additional fish, I spotted a picture of the yo-yo, and lo and behold, my fish was, most definitely, not a yo-yo. In fact, I cannot locate the loach on the website, or even this website!



He is rather elongated, as you can see, with a rounded nose. Notice the body, which appears to be in the shape of lattice work. Also, his belly is all white. Currently, he's about 3.5"-4", and seems to bounce, or hop, across the bottom of the tank. He's active during the day, climbing the glass, and has just started to go to the top of the tank to snatch some snails. He's also slightly aggressive with my cory cats.

I'd really like to identify the specific name, so that I know how to care for him properly. I also have to make sure he's not going to crowd my tank, as I know some loaches can grow extremely long. Any help anyone can give me, I'd really appreciate.

[plaalye]

Looks like a garra sp., not a loach.

[Matt]

Yeah and possibly one of the African species.

[peck1023]

Thank you for your help. I've emailed the same picture to my LFS fish room supervisor, and they have no clue what they sold me. This is disappointing considering it's the largest store in the area and I had to drive over an hour to get there.

Are there any suggestions as to where I can buy the species I want? I'm in south central PA. I'm not opposed to buying online, providing it's the correct fish.

[peck1023]

Oh, and I did identify this fish. It's garra congoensis, or Congo Logsucker.

[plaalye]

Be careful with the common names. "Burmese loach" could be many things. If it's b. histrionica you want, have a look at franks', wetspot, and aquabid.

http://www.franksaquarium.com/
http://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/
http://www.aquabid.com/

[Graeme Robson]

Yeah it's a Garra congoensis. These chaps are a aggressive Garra, I've had these for years and anything that can't look after itself will get killed and badly beating up! I personally would take it back to the lfs.

[piggy4]

I had a group of these African Garra's and found them to be placid I guess it depends on different factors