Sumatran and Borneo Clown loaches

[Sanj]

I had read about the different forms of clown loaches coming into the hobby from their main sources, Sumatra and Borneo.

They are the same species, just have developed slightly different colour forms due to most likley resulted from the two populations being genetically isolated. I am guessing at least 10,000 years as Indonesia was a much more united land mass in the last ice age.

Anyway Borneo's pelvic fins have black coloration,and the last body stripe ends much closer to the tail than Sumatrans. Sumatrans pelvic fins are all red, their red tail colouration also extends onto the body slightly.

The summatran clowns do indeed look more prettier, you might think the differences are minor, but I have 3x Borneo's and 2x Sumatrans, it is quite clear.

Has anyone else noticed this?

The article from loaches online also mentioned Clown loaches coming from Kalimantan...I dont think the author understood that Kalimantan is just the Indonesian part of Borneo.


Well I now have 5 Clowns in a Planted tank...am i asking for disaster?

 

[CathyG]

Two of my clowns are from Borneo, one from Sumatra, and yes there is definitely a difference. The colouration is the most obvious (the Sumatran being more vibrant) but there is a subtle difference in shape also, the Sumatran seems more full in body and his face is not as long.

 

[ryan]

There are certainly different variations in the species due to the isolation of species groups in different areas etc. However, the Clown Loaches we now see in the hobby are normally commercailly breed in Asia through hormone treatment. Because of this it would be hard to say where our fishes ancestors were orginally from as fish from Borneo could have been breed with fish from Sumatra and so on, so unless your fish are wild caught it would be hard to say with 100% certainty.

 

[anna_panna]

Hi,

I have another question regarding to this, I have four clown loaches, two appear to look as the sumatra type, the other two are the borneo type - from looking at the pelvic fin and colour in general.

When I got the first two more than a year ago the one "from borneo" was the smallest, now it is the largest, in fact double the size of the one "from sumatra". The other sumatra type hasnt grown much either, but havent had it for long...

Dont know if this is just a coincidence.... any ideas?

anna

 

[Gix]

My clowns are all of the Bornean variety. I keep looking for Sumatran ones though. I've had no luck.