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I was sold this fish as an algae-eating catfish, I just want to be certain about what it is so that I can provide the right conditions for it.
I have tried ID'ing it from body type to begin with, but I can't find anything that resembles it very well.
If it is of relevance, I bought it in Shanghai, China.
I also have a syn. which I was hoping to get a good id on, but the picture is really bad, I'll try to take some better ones later.

http://homepage.mac.com/delyth/PhotoAlbum1.html

Thanks for any help.

I'm afraid your fish isn't actually a catfish but a loach, probably a botia longiventralis. It will grow to about 12cm long and will not eat algae, but may graze through it on plant leaves, looking for scraps of food. Hope this helps

Thanks for the quick reply!
I had a feeling it might not be. It hasn't been doing much grazing! Guess I'd better go find out about those.
I'm sure my syno will cope well though!
I just need to get some better pictures of him.

Hi,

I had a fish that looked just like your one. It was sold to me as a Twelve Bared Red Lipped Loach. It became a problem in my tank as it started to eat the fins of some of my fish. I eventually put it an outside pond with gold fish (I had no where else to put it), but I did not expect it to survive. I checked it a couple of weeks later and it was doing fine. I then moved it to its own pond as I was worried about the gold fish, but I it some how disappeared.

Cheers, CatBrat

Your syno is .

Monsoon - loaches are just excellent for eating snails, that is their 'strength', their algae eating prowess remains, um, undocumented? The common picks for algae include the so-called algae eaters themselves (ie, Chinese), some of which get big and aggressive, otocinclus, and pl*co's, notably the bristlenose variety. That's a nice looking fish, at any rate. Good luck!

check out Leptobotia spp on http://www.loaches.com

your mystery fish is right in there!!
pretty fish btw and a rare find too.
congrats!

Wow, it's rare?
I got two of them for a dollar each! He is pretty though, I am quite attached to him.

I had noticed that a couple of baby snails in the tank had gone recently! They disappeared pretty quick too, they were on the glass, and then about an hour later they were nowhere to be seen. I think they arrived on some new plants I got, I was starting to worry there might be a problem with them.

Thanks for IDing my catfish too! No wonder I couldn't find him, the juvenile looks quite different.

I have a couple of chinese algae eaters, which are quite small and ok at the minute, but I am actively looking for replacements, as I have seen larger ones in a friends tank and you're right, they are pretty mean. I'm keeping my eyes open for a bristlenose, but have yet to find one. If I do, do you think he would be ok with the other syno?

Monsoon

Wow, it's rare?

Not where you come from. Leptobotia is probably the most common botiine loach in the Changjiang drainage.