Loach Identification Help

[cheezysquirrelz]

I went to petsupermarket today in search of a neat loach, and thats just what I found! I asked what kind it is and they said they had never seen that fish before. I asked about a price since there was no label, and they said maybe the same price as a clown loach. Then she realized that $8 is outrageous and gave it to me for $5.

He is about 1 1/2" to 2" long. Hes whiteish pink with a medium black band at the base of his tail and a very thin black stripe from head to tail on the middle of his back. I can tell hes a loach because he looks like any other loach only a strange color.

Does anyone know what kind of loach he is?

 

[TankGirl]

Sounds like a skunk botia to me. http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_morleti.html

 

[patryuji]

Count the number of rays on the dorsal fin.

It could be a skunk loach (botia morleti) or a sun loach (botia eos). When botia eos is stressed it can resemble a botia morleti.

$5 is steep for a skunk loach. $5 is also a good price for a sun loach. Either way I hope you have a semi-aggressive tank. Skunk loaches will keep hidden and stay to a small territory only bothering those who encroach upon its territory...they are very tough though and quite capable of defending themselves against larger fish. Sun loaches on the other hand, like to take a much larger territory and will lash out at anything that dwells on the bottom portion of the tank unless it is a significantly tougher fish.

 

[krap101]

a skunk loach is a tannish thing with a black stripe going frmo teh top of its body along the whole thing. it'll probally get caught in the net a couple times 2. the gill plates or whatever are really sharp and it hurts!. if you every take a dec out look carefully. because once i took out my driftwood for some pruning. the java fern was attached by rubber bands. 1 was hiding under the thingy and when i took it out it jumped off...

do skunks have the pink stripe or watever? because i dont have mine to look at and i dont remember anything about that..

 

[patryuji]

a skunk loach is a tannish thing with a black stripe going frmo teh top of its body along the whole thing. it'll probally get caught in the net a couple times 2. the gill plates or whatever are really sharp and it hurts!...
do skunks have the pink stripe or watever? because i dont have mine to look at and i dont remember anything about that..

Skunk loaches are naturally pinkish when relaxed (and the stripe which starts from their mouth and terminates at the tail as it joins the caudal stripe will be dark [tending to be a black stripe] and very prominent). Stressed skunks (as most of the botia loaches) can alter their coloration/pattern to a small degree. The "little blades" under the eyes are common to most botia loaches and I have seen my various loaches display their "blades" on occassion.

I have seen tiger loaches (botia hymenophysa), which were still very young, do an excellent job of mimicking skunk loaches when in a tank full of skunks (these guys [tigers] should never be in any but the most aggressive of tanks or in a species tank)

 

[vega]

some pic with ID. HTH

http://www.loaches.com/index.html

 

[vega]

Opss, just notice TG already give you the same site.