Somiletes-gongota - cat eyed loach

[Drfunkenstein57]

Hi everyone & merry Xmas to you all,

I have just received my bi-weekly newsletter from Aquarium Glaser (the German fish exporters) & this edition features a very unusual loach - Somiletes-gongota - also known as the cat eyed loach. you can find this at http:www.aquariumglaser.com

What a cracking little fish this is, I have never come across this before, does anyone know much about this?

P.S. After my initial excitement... I have found it in this sites very own species index, aka mooseface loach, real nice fish though, I know what I want for Xmas ...Dear Santa, blah blah blah, Somilietes-gongota... thank you

[ClownLoachSharky]

nice and just in time for christmas

[Jim Powers]

Also called Moose Face loach.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/somileptes-gongota

[ClownLoachSharky]

Thats a funny name. Where do they come up with these things??

[starsplitter7]

They are really neat and difficult to keep. Need to sift sand with lots of food in the sand and are pretty quiet.

[Shovelnose]

It is Canthophrys gongota now. A really cool loach to keep. Fine sand and sinking food is essential as starsplitter7 pointed out. Absolutely peaceful even though their looks suggest otherwise.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnBUkJM4 ... ature=plcp

Foraging behaviour.

[starsplitter7]

What an excellent video. Thanks for posting. Is that your fish?

[Shovelnose]

Yup. I am keeping two at the moment.

[starsplitter7]

Atr these native fish? if so, are they wild caught? How long have you had them? Do you feed them anything in specific or do they gleen food from the sand? Prepared food or live? I am curious because these are amazing fish, and I know they can be difficult to keep. Such pretty fish and unusual. How many loaches do you have, Shovelnose?

[ClownLoachSharky]

hey shovelnose, can you catch botia striata, Almorhae or Rostrata in your area? If so can you get a photo of the habitat.

[Shovelnose]

Atr these native fish? if so, are they wild caught? How long have you had them? Do you feed them anything in specific or do they gleen food from the sand? Prepared food or live? I am curious because these are amazing fish, and I know they can be difficult to keep. Such pretty fish and unusual. How many loaches do you have, Shovelnose?

Yup. These are wild caught native fish that I received around a month ago. I fed them a mixture of sinking pellets and live blood worms. Feeding them is not hard really. Any good quality sinking food will suffice. I keep a few species of Schistura,Mesonemacheilus,Aboricthys and Pangio. I had a few more genera but lost an entire tank with loaches when I was away for a couple of weeks.

hey shovelnose, can you catch botia striata, Almorhae or Rostrata in your area? If so can you get a photo of the habitat.

Nope. I am from south India. The species you mention are from the north. Botia striata has the southern most distribution among Indian Botia . I haven't collected these in the wild yet. I will try sourcing a pic of a typical habitat sometime.

[ClownLoachSharky]

Thankyou for the information.