My New Guy! (picture Too)

[Chuka1212]

Hey just thought I would share my newest addition to one of my tanks, and get some advice. I got my little horseface earlier today and got some general info on him, the lady at the LFS didn't know too much about them besides they burrow a ton and may not be seen by the aquarist for months , get 6" long, prefer slightly acidic water, are nocturnal, and are good for communities. Is all this info accurate, and are there other things I should know from your experiences? Oh, and I figured I had better take his pic in the bag cause I'm not sure if I'll ever see him again! Here he is:

 

[lilfishie]

Cute lil guy, have a read though THIS if you haven't already

 

[The-Wolf]

hard to tell from the pic but that looks very much like a longnosed loach Acantopsis octoactinotos to me

Acantopsis octoactinotos is a long slender fish with an elongated snout. This fish looks similar to the Horsefaced loach (A. choirorhynchus), but is slower growing. It can be distinguished from that species in a number of ways. The snout of the Long-nose loach does not slope downward, as it does in the Horsefaced loach. Also, this loach does not bury itself in the substrate as frequently, nor completely cover itself, and prefers to hide under large rocks or sit on top of them. It is more aggressive than (A. choirorhynchus), and for this reason it is best kept with larger compatible species that will be able to handle such behavior.

A. octoactinotos will kill small schooling fish if hungry (especially Neon Tetras and Zebra Danios).
taken from
http/www.loaches.com/species-index/acant...s-octoactinotos

 

[Chuka1212]

Hmmm, I never thought it could be a longnosed loach.... he doesn't bury himself at all I noticed. So if it is a longnosed, could my guppies and killies be in danger?

 

[The-Wolf]

Hmmm, I never thought it could be a longnosed loach.... he doesn't bury himself at all I noticed. So if it is a longnosed, could my guppies and killies be in danger?

slow moving guppies would make idea targets for a long nosed loach yes, the killies (depending on species) maybe to fast
but i'd still not risk it.

try and get some good shots of the loach, especially a profile of the head.
then we (or the guys on the loaches.com) can give a you posative ID

 

[Chuka1212]

ok, I tried to get some shots, but my camera wouldn't allow for a shot of just the head, hopefully these will help and I appreciate the help with ID'ing him.

 

[The-Wolf]

ok I'm prety certain you do indeed have a horsefaced loach now.
the head shot was the one
appologies for the scare but given the other ones temperment I felt it was
nessicary to be sure.

 

[Chuka1212]

ok I'm prety certain you do indeed have a horsefaced loach now.
the head shot was the one
appologies for the scare but given the other ones temperment I felt it was
nessicary to be sure.

Ok man! thanks a lot for the ID, I feel a lot better now.

 

[TammyLiz]

Amazing looking fish. Congrats! I've seen these a couple of times and always wish I was able to take one home.

 

[Chuka1212]

Amazing looking fish. Congrats! I've seen these a couple of times and always wish I was able to take one home.

Hey thanks! I was in need of a bottom feeder (my killis are messy eaters!)and originally went in to get a khuli loach but i thought this little horsefaced was one of the coolest loaches I had seen.