Cool "Panda" hill stream loach at Aquarium Glaser

[Harold Slater]

Saw this cool new import on Aquarium Glaser's (Germany) website the other day. Wish my little store could afford to import from them. They always have really cool fish a critters.

Protomyzon pachychilus

http://www.aquariumglaser.de/backend/FC ... chilus.jpg

http://www.aquarium-glaser.de/en/news.php

[Diana]

Beautiful little fish!

[janma]

Once again proven that loaches are the most beatiful fish. Damn you Germany for you're fine fish imports.

[Graeme Robson]

I was wondering when these little chaps would start entering the aquarium trade.

An adult specimen looks less colourful but still very nice!

[LES..]

An adult specimen looks less colourful but still very nice! :D

Do you have a link to any pictures of Adults Graeme?

[Graeme Robson]

Here you go Les. (The adults do look nicer than i recall)

Juvenile:


Adult:(MrTree's Image)

[odyssey]

Nice loach!
I'd like to raise, too.

[fhm_usa]

nice...I wonder what's the max size on that fish.

[LES..]

Thanks for posting the images Graeme, i was not wanting to go snooping round the net while at work. Now that i'm home and have had a good rummage through google and blagged Susan's Athens access (the benefits of having someone working at a university!) i'm going to suggest that the adult image you posted is actually just a slightly older juvenile.

Google enabled me to track the 'adult' image Graeme posted back to a post by Mr. Tree on the AquaticQuotient.com forums. At the bottom of this thread there is a link to the paper:
Threatened fishes of the world: Protomyzon pachychilus Chen, 1980 (Balitoridae)

The first page of the paper is available for preview from the link above. There is a a small black and white image image showing the juvenile and adult forms (predictably) on the second page. The image of the adult in the paper shows a pale bodied fish with a distinct dark line along its side and paler markings along the back. Unfortunately i have not been able to find an accessible image in colour that matches these adult markings.

From the general noise from other forums i am guessing the high contrast colouring is lost in adult hood. From the one picture i have seen the adult is still a hansom fish that i would be proud to keep, however it also sounds like this fish has a very limited range and quite vulnerable. If it is being collected from the wild at the juvenile stage there is a huge risk of a population crash )-: certainly this turns me off from wanting to own them. I can only hope that given the attractiveness at a juvenile stage has led to them being captive bred for the aquarium trade.

[Graeme Robson]

Nice work Les! This certainly reminds me of a similer coloured Schistura sp which has a very limited range and is quite vulnerable.

[LES..]

Yowsers! if google has translated this page correctly they are going for 100 euros a fish!

Still not found any confirmed adult pictures...

[janma]

they are going for 100 euros a fish!

They are the L-046 of loaches. But that price is in Germany, always cheaper there.

[Northern Monkey]

These are really pretty as juvenile but they grow into grey ugly adults .
Ps The schistura Prideii isnt all that rare in the wild as Nonn first thought ,we were talking last week and it seems that their population is quite strong ..

[Mikaila31]

AGGGGGG!

Why did I get the Glaser list on Wednesday ! That a beautiful fish and it just made my wish list. Most likely no luck though as I am a broke collage student . Either way I did e-mail back for the price on this fish. I'll let you guys know what they want for it.

[Ravenmoon]

Wow...those are really pretty.