Asian equivalent of a Corydoras ???

[Cococalm]

Hello,

I have always only ever kept Amazonian biotope tanks. This year I thought I would give the Asian Biotope a try. So, I set up my Asian tank and am now in the process of populating it. I have 9 rasbora harlequin, 3 trichogaster ( 1 male and 2 female ), 2 clown loach and one skunk loach ..... so far ..... .

However, my question concerns an Asian equivalent of the wonderful Corydoras ....... what is the Asian version of this fish which does not get too big .... ? I know certain cats like the pangassius are scavengers, but I am looking for smaller fish. The loaches scavenge but selectively - after snails, not like the Cory that scavenges everything. I would be looking to get a small group of about 4 or 5 individuals for my 120 lit tank.

I would also be interested to find a reliable algae eating fish species for this tank .... same criteria, a species that does not outgrow my 120 lit setup.

Any ideas ?? Thank you in advance

[BigJim]

Khuli loaches are from Indonesia. They don't eat snails and are a lot of fun.

[WhiteDevil]

Yep go for the kuhllis they are like the corydora of asia.

[JohnPaul]

Several years ago I had a Yo Yo loach (Botia almorhae or Botia lohachata) in my 29g community tank and he seemed to me to scavenge anything edible, just like a cory. (Plus he would also eat snails). Yo-yo's are one of the smaller sized loaches and are actually shoaling fish so a small group of them would be much better than having a lone one like I did.

As an added bonus, unlike most other loaches (which are nocturnal, at least from what I have heard), yo-yo's seem to be quite active during the day. Or at least mine was.

As far as an algae eater, I can't recommend anything as far as fish, but I would suggest you consider nerite snails. Nerites are moderately sized (most can grow to about the size of a large gumball) and are absolutely the best algae eaters out there, even eating Green Spot Algae (GSA) which is not eaten by any other creature I know of. They are completely safe for live plants. And best of all, they cannot reproduce in fresh water (their eggs need strongly brackish/salt water to hatch) so you can add a few to a tank without worries about a snail population explosion in your tank.

Among the varieties that are native to Asia:

Red-Spotted Nerite
Horned (or Spiked) Nerite (Clithon corona)

It's also the case that some varieties of the popular Zebra Nerite are Asian as well, though there are at least six species that go under the common name Zebra Nerite. One or two are Asian, the others are native to the Caribbean, South America, or Africa. I believe the "big lined" version of the Zebra is the Asian one. There are also (I think) multiple species that are sometimes called Red-Spotted Nerites, and like the zebras, some may be native to other areas as well but at least one of them I know is native to Asia.

As for stocking , a usual rule of thumb for general algae control is 1 nerite per 5-10 gallons of water, so that would mean 3-6 nerites for your 120 liter tank.

Another possibility for some degree of algae control would be Amano shrimp, though they probably couldn't keep a major algae issue in check by themselves unless you had a small army of them. Also keep in mind that a large enough fish is going to see a shrimp as a tasty little snack so this wouldn't be an option if you have big fish in the tank. (Amano shrimps get to be about 2" long, give or take.) But they are native to the biotope and are cool little creatures who will definitely help some with algae control.

Hope some of that helps.

[Cococalm]

Hey John Paul,

Tahnks for this valuable info .... just a thought in passing, would the clown loaches, skunk loaches and the YoYo's eat the Nerite Snails too ? .... or are these species that are left alone ?

[JohnPaul]

I would think the mouths on Yo Yo loaches are way too small to even attempt to eat most nerites. I've never tried it but that's my best guess--remember most nerite species will vary from gumball sized to even larger than that; for some of the larger specimins of the larger species a full-grown adult nerite could approach the size of a golfball. (Maybe not quite get there, but certainly they can get over 1" and a golf ball is only about 1.5").