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Hillstream Loach VarietiesRiver Loaches Family: Balitoridae Batik Loach Mesonoemacheilus triangularis Photo Courtesy: Ken Childs Click on the small images or names below
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With a sucker type mouths and fins adapted to cling to rocks, Hillstream Loaches or River Loaches are sometimes called "Sucker Belly Loaches".
Though generally found in rivers or streams, there are some Hillstream Loaches or River Loaches found only from caves. To varying degrees, depending on the species, they are especially designed to cope with living in fast waters. Though they are highly adaptable they are best suited to a "river tank" type aquarium with a lot of water movement and a variety of stones and rocks. They also need a cooler aquarium and some can even adapt to a brackish environment. These fish tend to be shy and will often spend a good deal of time hiding under rocks or in the substrate.
There are a number of similarities found in both the Hillstream Loaches and the Loach family Cobitidae, such as multiple barbels around the mouth. Occasionally both the Hillstream Loaches and the Loaches are confused with the catfishes because of the presence of barbels.
More about Hillstream Loaches: Description, Care & Feeding, and Breeding:
For more Information on keeping freshwater fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater
Aquarium
| Batik Loach | Cherry Fin Loach |
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 Acanthocobitis rubidipinnis |
| Chinese Hillstream Loach | Chinese Zebra Loach |
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 Pseudogastromyzon fasciatus |
| Half Banded Loach | Torrent Loach |
 Schistura savona |
 Homaloptera bilineata |
| Mongoose Loach | Ornate Tiger Sand Loach |
 Nemacheilus rueppelli |
 Schistura Kohchangensis |
| Rainbow Loach | Salween Hillstream Loach |
 Traccatichthys pulcher |
 Schistura mahnerti |
| Zipper Loach | |
 Acanthocobitis botia |
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The Hillstream Loaches or River Loaches belong to the family Balitoridae, with about 485 species species described in about 58 different genera. They are found throughout Eurasia with a single species in northeast Africa.
Occasionally both the Hillstream Loaches and the Loaches are confused with the catfishes because of the presence of barbels. One similarity that lends to this confusion are the barbels, all of these fish have between 3 to 6 pairs. Another is the appearance of being scaleless due to very tiny scales on some species, yet all these fish are in fact covered with scales or partially covered with scales.
Description:
Most of the Hillstream Loaches are not very large,
being only a few inches. They have developed quite a variety of body forms
- round, cylindrical, compressed, some that are elongated, and a few that
are flattened. They have a sucker type mouth and fins adapted to clinging
to rocks in moving water. Some species are scaleless.
For the most part they are bottom dwellers found under rocks
or in mud, and a few are found only in caves.
Care and feeding:
These fish mainly get active in the evening or after dark,
are mostly bottom feeders, and are omnivores.
Although in their natural habitat many primarily eat insect larvae, live
worms, and crustaceans, they also nibble on algae and other vegetation.
They can be fed sinking granules or tablets, dry flake food, frozen proteins
such as tubifex, bloodworms, and brine shrimp, and vegetable substitutes
such as a soft algae, algae wafers, and even a bit of Romaine lettuce
or blanched kale leaves.
A "river tank" aquarium is best where there is
a lot of water movement, a sand or gravel substrate, and a variety of
stones and rocks for algae to grow on. They like hiding places where they
can retreat to at will. They especially like to hide under rocks, plant
roots or wood, and some species like to hide in caves.
Breeding:
There is little known about the reproduction of most of these
fish. Though there have been some reported successes among various hobbyists,
these fish are not yet commercially bred.
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