Polka Dotted Loaches

[Cooky_luvs]

Anyone else have these guys? I just picked them up yesterday. Interesting little fish I watched on of them swim against the current of the bubble wall, let it carry him up. Then he spent about 5 minutes "skimming" along the surface of the water. Looked almost like a water bug..lol. Anyone seen them do this before? It's really fun to watch

Picture from loaches.com
Nemacheilus corica

P.S. Anyone know how big they get? When I look them up I can't find much info.

 

[The-Wolf]

The correct taxa is Schistura corica although Nemacheilus was the original taxa
they max out at 4.2cm. apart from that there is nothing else as to pH etc.
I suspect they are like all loaches of this grounp, prefer sand and cooler waters with a good fast flow.

Stunning loach, how many do you have?

 

[Cooky_luvs]

The correct taxa is Schistura corica although Nemacheilus was the original taxa
they max out at 4.2cm. apart from that there is nothing else as to pH etc.
I suspect they are like all loaches of this grounp, prefer sand and cooler waters with a good fast flow.

Stunning loach, how many do you have?

Wow they stay pretty small then, I think mine are probably full grown. I have 4 so I'm glad they don't get huge

P.S. I wish I could get some pics of mine, but they are >so< fast lol

 

[mikev]

These are certainly schisturas as TheWolf said...no polka-dots, the term is usually used for B.Kubotai.

I have six schisturas of a different species (see the profile for Schistura Poculi on this site on mine); while there are *many* different schistura species the following seems to apply to most:
You want slightly lower temp (71F-72F is probably ideal), some current, some large stones in the tank (resting places).
They do fine with 75F (in my tank), but this is not recommended.
And I have a flat area on one of the driftwood pieces which they like to rest on.

I would be a bit concerned about the sharp gravel...they may move pretty fast on it and cut the fins. Would be better to have sand and a few large rounded stones.

Otherwise, they are pretty similar to most Botia.

Nice find, btw, I'd love to have a few of these too....