Loaches Online Forum

piggy4 wrote:Thanks Yellowfinned, those pics are of the fish i've been trying to describe ! note the dorsal ,its the same colour as the body , wheras in Modesta the dorsal is the same colour as the tail !
Yellow finned are these the ones you caught in your local canal ?

Yup.

i m o, these are a nice sp/ to keep they do well in small groups i.e. about six fish or more , never really saw any aggression aimed at other fish ! they seemed to form a pecking order among themselves , and were a joy to watch .

The dorsal is not as yellow as the tail and other fins, but depending on the light does have a yellow tinge.

i think these are an undescribed sp/ ! as for their size i would suspect they grow to at least 6 inches ?
I've had many a chat with The Dark One about this fish , thanks again Yellow finned .

Andrew, my rather untechnical view on loaches in Thailand.

I get rather privileged access to the loaches in Thailand, ‘cos I live here. I see them at the market, have fished them out of canals, and spoken to many fishermen and traders. Often, I can trace them back to their origin. I have seen many different loaches, including those from Lao and South East Burma.

Although the species index in loach.com is great, it seems obvious to me that many of the loaches I have seen, or even most, do not fit neatly into the species definitions.

I have seen tigers with bright red fins, eight inch skunks and a gamut of yellow/orange/red fins. Especially Yasuhikotakia, it is difficult me to fit what I see into a finite number of species. Interestingly many loaches that appear on this forum I have never seen, emperor, nigrolineta, sumo.

I am sure that either there are many not yet described species, or at least a lot of races within species.


.

Fascinating!

As promised, here are a few pics!































These seem quite feisty with one another in the confines of the stock tank and one of them spined me on the way to the photo tank! *ouch*

Emma

You do get those wounds looked after, don't you? Great photos of really nice looking loaches.

Ahh, what i would do to get them nice loaches.

Emma, you are the queen of pics ! wonderful.

Very nice Emma, and very cool too!!

Drool!!!

I thinks a few of these will be heading up north soon!

Thank you for the great comments, much appreciated!

These Y. lecontei have strated wreaking havoc at the shop though! The way our systems are laid out, if the fish really choose to do so, they can jump into any of the neighbouring tanks in each row of 4 tanks (they are essentially a very long tank divided into 4). There are tiny gaps underneath the coverslides which some choose to navigate, and as such some had made it all the way from the left hand tank where I put them, into the tank next door, the one after that, and the one at the end. I didn't notice this straight away as the mischievous little things were quite stealthy and hid in the shadows, but earlier on this evening I saw a couple of clowns looking very scratched up and knew it wasn't any of the other species in that tank (or at least any of the ones that were supposed to be in there). Closer inspection revealed 4 Y. lecontei hiding under some of the decor, so I moved them back to where they were supposed to be. I checked the next tank where there were a few beaten-up looking B. almorhae, and sure enough 4 more Y. lecontei were in with them too. The occupants of the next tank were all fine (Mesonoemacheilus guentheri, Macgrognathus zebrinus, some small Heros severus gold) but there were 3 Y. lecontei lurking, probably ready to jump to the next interesting tank with the B. almorhae. It appears that they have only been targeting other Botiid species.

I know that what goes on in a stock tank may not necessarily reflect what may happen in the home aquarium, but it does usually give me a good indication. So far, these seem appropriate for the Grrrr type set up.....

Emma

"Shark" looking guys Emma , as sharp as botias can get (or Y´s, whatever...), I love their agile appearance.

These guys are lovely little devils. I'm sure they're just as naughty as skunks or worse.

What do you mean by Grrr type setups?

Is that a "GRRRRR!!! damn fish, here be alone in your tank!"?

shari2 wrote:Ah, the memories.

Can't say. He disappeared one day. Literally. Just. Was. Gone. No sign of him/her anywhere, no previous signs of illness, nada. Just gone.

I guess Emma's last report would explain this.


I had three as well and only ended up with one. Never knew what happened to the other two. They hide for long periods so when I did not see then for a week they were assumed to be hiding. After a month or two, I knew they were gone. I assume the more docile one stayed back because he was not agressive but was able to overthrow a full grown tiger from intruding in his cave.

Here he is seen listening to alpha loach on proper eating behavior.

Thank you all.

Rocco wrote:These guys are lovely little devils. I'm sure they're just as naughty as skunks or worse.

What do you mean by Grrr type setups?

Is that a "GRRRRR!!! damn fish, here be alone in your tank!"?

Heheh!

Have a look in our Glossary, Rocco: http://www.loaches.com/working-glossary

'Grrrr Tank' is listed there, honest.

Emma

*sound of oriental enlightenment*

Ahhh! Now I understand sensei Emma.

Rocco its worth having a browse for pictures of Graeme's Grrr tank, and it is very impressive.

Graeme we would need more pictures when these head north, and posibbly a photo of the lorry with sagging suspension that no doubt you and Mark will need to be hiring