Loaches Online Forum

The Kottelatlimia pristes

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... p?id=23023

Just been doing some research on Kottelatlimia. Apparantley it differs from Lepidocephalichthys and Lepidocephalus in that the 2nd pectoral fin ray has spine like projections in the male, and this is not the case in Lepidocephalichthys and Lepidocephalus.

Emma, I have amended Kottelat et al's generic key to include this and I have removed things that you cant count on live fish (number of vertebrae etc), please see if you can use this to see what genus your fish are:

1a. Snout greatly elongated; eye situated in posterior third or posterior half of head; suborbital spine clearly anterior to eye; caudal forked or emarginate; size up to 25cmSL Acantopsis
1b. Snout not elongated; eye situated in middle or anterior half of head; suborbital spine under or partly anterior to eye; caudal truncate or rounded; size less than 12cm SL 2

2a Head without scales; body slender, its depth 7-11 times in SL; almost translucent in life Acanthopsoides
2b. Scales present below and behind eye, on opercle (and on top of the head in some species); body dark coloured (except Lepidocephalus spectrum) 3

3a. Second pectoral ray in males with spine like projections
Kottelatlimia
3b. Second pectoral ray in males without spine like projections
4

4a. Body depth 5-6 times in SL Lepidocephalus
4b. Body depth 6-8 times in SL Lepidocephalichthys

Sorry it's taken me so long to take some more photos of these, I seem to have been rather inundated with work at the moment.



































As you can see, some of these pics are better than others! This is because of their diminutive size and activity levels....

Steve thank you for the valueable info, but this time I will leave it for you lot to thrash out. Let me know if you need close-ups of any other areas and I will do my best when I next have my photo tanks out.

Emma

Aye! Emma's on one of her usual showing off of great loaches. Nice fishies.

Hi Emma

Great images. I have used the adapted key and they are either a Lepidocephalichthys or a Kottelatlimia. Can't say for definite at this point but my hunch is Kottelatlimia. Could you get some close ups of the pectoral fins, or have you noticed on any of the specimens (would be the males) if they have any spine like projections on the 2nd ray?

Superb looking little chaps!

Not sure them being a Lepidocephalichthys also.

Thank you. Next time I'm at the shop taking pics, I will try my best for a close-up of the pectorals. Going to be tricky though!....

Emma

Please see image of Kottelatlimia pristes caught by Michael Lo in Sarawak. They do look similar to your fish.

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/JVL6.htm

The.Dark.One wrote:Please see image of Kottelatlimia pristes caught by Michael Lo in Sarawak. They do look similar to your fish.

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/JVL6.htm

Interesting! I've rotated one of Emma's pictures and included one of Michael's for comparison.

I have some more pics, will upload them sometime soon (got lots of work to catch up on following the computer crash). As a matter of interest, my supplier started listing these chaps as Kottelatlimia pristes during the time my computer was down.

Emma

Man, I'm tired of being right!

Wow, they are little stunner's, any idea on ideal aquarium conditions?

Steve, these are the best pictures I could come up with ( ). Being so small and not keen on the presence of the camera, they are tricky to get in focus:

Don't think I see any spine-like projections on the 2nd ray of the pectoral fin here:

(of course this could be a female)

But do I see something on the 2nd ray of this one?

Maybe? Maybe not?

Emma

Hi Emma

These images are great. You can see them on the second photograph, look closely at the second ray and you will see hyaline projections.

Definitely a Kottelatlimia, and probably pristes.

Brilliant pics Emma, and superb detective work from Steve, and, not bad posing from some timid and ever so slightly bemused Loaches ! just out of interest what are the geographical perameters of this delightful fish , do they actually come from Sumatra ? i thought they where from Malaysia ?