Strange fish in local university...

[monkeyboy]

A freshwater aquarium is set up at a local university. Anyway, there are a couple of strange fish in the tank...they kinda look like a cross between a stingray and a pleco.

They are about 2" long and are light gray in color, speckled with white and darker gray spots. Their undersides are white. Their mouths are not on their undersides (unlike rays) and they kinda look like those small, weird-lookin' sharks (you know what I'm talking about). They often stick to the glass.

Some sort of strange pleco? Its the only thing that makes sense...I am certain that the tank isn't brackish (its supposed to be an "amazonian tank").

I'll try to get a picture (or find the tank's caretaker) next time I take a trip down that way.

- mb

 

[Brobro]

hil-stream loach.

 

[WiltChamberlain]

They have these down at my LFS too... they are listed as Butterfly Plecos. The ones they have for sale there are 1-1.5 inches long and are selling for 28 bucks (Canadian) each. I don't know a whole lot about them yet although I am trying to find out. They are very cool and I'm looking into getting one for my new 20g.

 

[monkeyboy]

Brobro: Thanks...thats what they are, no doubt about it.

Wilt: They are also called butterfly loaches.

I think they are fairly demanding--at least that seems to be the general opinion online. They are cool water fish that require a decent current and quite a bit of space. They are also defenseless.

- mb

 

[monkeyboy]

...and I also read that they should be in groups of at least 3. Otherwise they tend to stress out.

 

[monkeyboy]

Uhhh...scratch that last comment. Apparently SOME species of butterfly loach do best solitary, while others require company.

Oi...

 

[WiltChamberlain]

Cool I can finally do a search that yields results. These do look pretty sensitive. Although on AquariumFish.net that they will be compatable with the type of fish I'm looking at keeping. This will require some thought.

 

[monkeyboy]

I'm not sure how much I'd trust aquariumfish.net with an uncommon fish such as this. I'm going to be doing some looking around as well...I'll let you know what I find out.

- mb

 

[Brobro]

its not that uncommon of a fish. u should be able to get a good amount of info on it. i used to have one but in died in the recent power outage in the whole tri-state area.

 

[monkeyboy]

I realize that butterfly loaches are fairly easy to find in pet stores...they just don't seem to be a common addition in most tanks. Even if they are, I doubt they are properly cared for, so finding a decent reference might be difficult (I haven't found anything I'm satisfied with). I've found this to be a common problem with cooler water fish, since most aquarists have warmer water tanks.

Most sites are saying "they do fine in warmer waters" but since they are cooler water, stream-dwelling fish...they must require some damn good oxygenation. Warm water without much flow...well, doesn't sound ideal at all.

- mb

 

[lizwinz]

http://www.goldfishparadise.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=322

they have a little profile on them there...alot of people on the site also keep them in their "coldwater" goldfish tanks so it might be a good place to ask any questions you have

--liz

 

[fishysmell]

I've also seen them labled "borneo suckers" if that helps anyone.