Once in a Lifetime Experience!!!

[JamisonBWolsh]

Yea..Im back from vacation.


Just found out a local warehouse here in Los angeles just got 50 Loaches of Angelicus Botia (a type of Loach). My LFS sell them at 14.95 and they bought about 10 of that supply. I bought 3 of these guys. After doing some research, these guys have Just been "discovered" and new in the aquarium trade. To know that I am one of the first to expeirence the life and personality of this fish in an aquarium Bogles my mind.
As an aquarium hobbyist, I have always wanted to have have a fish no one or very few people have. This fish is "it". The pictures on the website does NOT do it Justice. It is Yellow with blue dots and dark Brown coloring. An amazing fish. Just wanted to share. They do not even have a set scientific name as I seen it as "Angelicus" and as "Myanmar".
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_sp_myanmar.html

I am going to try to "breed" these guys...wish me Luck!

Ps. If you can get your hands on a type of fish that is newly discovered, GRAB it!!!

[wetmanNY]

Watch them closely and keep a diary, Jamison. Your chances of breeding any Botia are slim, but the better you can describe their interactions the more chances everyone has.

Do some sleuthing and you have an article for one of the hobby magazines. You can write. Go for it.

What a terrific new fish! First I've heard of it.

Congratulations!

[mwood322]

If you go the Loaches Online forums there are actually quite a few people that have had this fish for a few weeks now. In loaches it actually isn't very hard to get new species quickly, since the demand is normally lower than say fancy plecos, their prices are normally more reasonable.

Personally I like my Botia sidthimunkis more.

--Mia

[Andy16]

That is great Jamison!!!! Good luck on breeding these guys. Tell us how it goes:)

[JamisonBWolsh]

Yes. I checked that. There are only a few people that have them. They were "discovered" unofficially about 2 years ago. Maybe a handfull of aquarium hobbyists out there own them. Between then and now, there has not been any large quantities shipped. This shipment (with mine) was 50. And these are only collected in the wintertime when the water levels are low. So you can see, I am about to experience something not many poeple have.
As for personal favorites. This has nothing to do with it. There are Millions of species of fish out there. There are many more still undiscovered. You my like your type of fish better. fine. But can you say they are a "newly discovered fish"? Or can you say that you are experiencing a fish very few people have expeirenced? This excitement alone is priceless.

Hmmm...ok. Maybe I worded that wrong. A Planted tank with neon tetras is a NICE setup. Its personal preference. I like the idea of having something no one else has. I am not saying this fish is better than another fish. I am just saying its a new species that have just been discovered and very few poeple have...

[jiggerpolebill]

hope your albino tinfoil barbs dont eat them.:D

[wetmanNY]

I'm currently feeling hugely self-congratulatory every time I peer at my recently-purchased Burmese Badis, Badis ruber.

So I sympathize with Jamison's elation over this delightful-looking utterly new Botia.

[Slappy*McFish]

Interesting looking loach..I'll keep my eye open for any that may pop up in my area.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

but if im not mistaken ive had those loaches in my shop awhile back and they were hopless and they were put under th name of mongolial flying loaches but im pretty sure ive had them before this is like 2 and a half years ago?


soooooo sorry for braging its a habbit:p

[carpguy]

Neat fish Jamison.

I'll have to keep my eyes peeled. My goal for the spring is trying to find some sidthimunkis (I think they're coming into season about now).

From the looks and the locale of them I'd guess they're related to the sids, nigrofasciatus and rostrata botias. I know the sids are next to impossible to breed in the aquarium (I've heard reports that its happened a few times at best). If your having trouble getting info on your guys I'd look into these others.

I don't want to start an argument about it, but sometimes you come across as being more interested in the obscurity of the fish than in the fish. If there were a hundred or a thousand would you think less of it? Its a very cool fish, enjoy it for what it is.

:cool:

Gotta love dem loaches :D

[JamisonBWolsh]

Dragon lord: It is possible you may have had them in your store. Supposedly, they have been discovered 2 years ago. They never had any other name at that point however. As far as i understand it, before this season, they were only shipped a few at a time. This season, they are shipping alot more. 50 in los angeles, some to the east coast, and a few to Canada. How many they shipped out of Thailand is anyones guess and these guys are wild and newly discovered, so there cant be many. I paid 14.99 each of them. In canada, somoeone is selling them at a LFS for 9.00 dollars each. In the east coast they go for 35.00 each. So the true "amount" they are worth is anyones guess after all the hype is gone.

Carp Guy:

The sidthimunkis botia sounds like a GREAT loach. Supposedly, unlike most loaches, they swim in the upper middle of your tank. Also, they swim both during the day and night. So viewing them would be easy. Both my Yoyo's and the "angelicus" loach do come out during the day. the sidthimunkis is out all the time.
AS for the exporting of Loaches from Thailand and surrounding areas. For the Angelicus and Im sure of the others, wintertime is the time they export them. During this time, the waters are low and so catching them is easy. My angelicus was shipped to the warehouse in early febuary. I bought them at a LFS that deals with the warehouse on march 23. Keep in mind though most LFS only try to carry sellable fish with lots of color. Most of their customers are not interested in how rare it is or what type it is. they only care about the price and coloration (so the LFS tells me). All I know is the warehouse sold out Immediatly to the LFS. My LFS bought 10 I think and they still have plenty of loaches left. Not many people will pay 14.99 for these guys, while a clown loach (more colorfull) goes for alot less. Perhaps you can special order them? My 60 gallon tank is full now so I cant get anymore.
People reading this forum and research on their fish are not common. Otherwise, many fish the LFS sell, wont be sellable (Pacus). The LFS will make more $$$ on the common fish then the not so common. I dont like this, but its the truth. Try to special order them. perhaps you can do that?

[wetmanNY]

I'm glad to see that B. sidthimunki is still sometimes available, because I'd heard that it was commercially extinct (not exactly the same as biologically extinct but not a wholesome situation). It's been a couple of years at least since I saw it at any LFS.

What I'd read on the web about "Sid the Monkey" was that new dams for hydropower in Thailand, combined with pollution and overfishing, had reduced natural breeding stocks of these fish dangerously low. The Botia all seem to travel upstream to breed, when they are finally sexually mature. The new dam or dams were cutting these off from breeding locales.

Burma and North Thailand are commercially unexplored areas for tropical/subtropical fish.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Burma is now known as Myanmar. I know that in 2000 there were fighting going on by local militias for mining rights I think? As of now, I cant find any info on any dangerous situations there right now. This would open collecting these fish easier. Its a shame about the destruction of these rivers by the dams and pollution. Its also a shame to lose of these nice loaches. Im sure there are many more undiscovered species in Myanmar.
The situation does not look good for any loaches in this area of the world. The country is Over-populated and extremely poor with Aids Rampant. At one point, the country was actually in transition from being a socialist country (and in 1988 democracy was starting), but the attempts failed by the controlling Militia party.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bm.html

I fear their governement could care less about the fish. The citizens need to oust their current leadership and try again with the democratic process. At some point, through education and improvement in their ecomony, their country can become a nice place to live. By then though, the Loaches future looks bleak. Especially since breeding them captive is so hard to to do and wild caught are the only ways to get them.

Its a shame though that the money That I paid (14.95) is mostly going through the ladder (exporters, wholesalers, LFS) and only a few cents are going to the poeple that actually catch them (the ones that truly need the money). If only they had the ability to use the internet, education and other sources to directly sell the fish to the local LFS or wholesellers, more money can go to them. But isnt that the truth for pretty much anything?

[wetmanNY]

Burma is Myanmar --as Germany is Deutschland. "Holland" isn't "The Netherlands." It's Nederland.

The Thai don't call their country "Thailand." The Egyptians don't call their country "Egypt."

The Japanese call their country "Nippon," don't they...

Myanmar schmyanmar... more owlish "correctness."

My heart goes out to the passive, obedient fatalistic Burmese people... or are they now to be called Myanmartians?