Loach identity

[Spunky]

I brought home two “zebra loaches” to join one I had just gotten from another LFS. I did not look at them much (friendly terms with the fish guy, got a deal on the only two left, one was kind of thin, may or may not make it type of thing) until I got home. They were not striatas at all! I am only familiar with the botia family and kuhlis…and these are defiantly not one of them.

They are super small so it is hard to get a good picture (ok, i would have settled for a decent picture...), so sorry about that. Hopefully you can see the main points like the head shape and stripes.

I looked at the photos on loaches.com trying to find one similar... i think i looked at all of them (easy to miss one) and started to think they could be Nemacheilus rueppelli… but I don’t know… it would be nice to have it figured out so i can find out if i need to take them back or if i want to stock with them and take the striata back. If you have any ideas please let me know!!!

pics are found here

 

[reptileguy2727]

Looks like what they usually call a tiger botia/loach. Check out planetcatfish.com for a proper identification.

 

[H3D]

Looks like what they usually call a tiger botia/loach. Check out planetcatfish.com for a proper identification.

It does look like it may be some type of tiger loach, but why would someone try to identify it on planetcatfish.com? For help with identification try:

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/species-index

 

[Malefic23]

That does look very very thin. Could it be wasting disease? If so, antibacterial meds will clear it right up...

 

[Spunky]

Yep, its a tiger loach, S. hymenophysa.

Well, i will be off to trade them back in, because 2 aggressive 10" fish wont work out so well in my tank....

 

[H3D]

Yep, its a tiger loach, S. hymenophysa.

Well, i will be off to trade them back in, because 2 aggressive 10" fish wont work out so well in my tank....

Congratulations for doing the responsible thing. :clap: I wish more folks had that kind of attitude.

 

[Spunky]

too bad i was not a little more responsible in the first place and look closer at them, realized they were not zebra loaches, researched then bought or not bought...

 

[loaches r cool]

I had almost the exact thing happen to me. Beleive me you dont want Tigers unless your tank is setup for them. I took mine back as well. They are pretty impressive in a large agressive tank with a large group of them though.