Tag Archives: loach

Micronemacheilus cruciatus (= Yunnanilus c.)

4. June 2018

This charming free swimming dwarf loach originates from Vietnam. It attains a maximum length of about 3.5 cm. For quite a long time it was placed in the genus Yunnanilus, but currently mot scientists see them in the monotypical (this means the genus contains only one species) genus Micronemacheilus.

These fish are totally peaceful and love to swim along with conspecifics. They are very lively and can be easily fed with any type of ususal fishfood as long as it is not too big. The optimal water temperature can be between 18 and 26°C, the pH around the neutral mark, hardness is meaningless for these fish.

Miconemacheilus cruciatus is an ideal community fish for well planted tanks with other small fish of the southeast Asian region.

For our customers: the fish have code 478013 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Mesonoemacheilus guentheri

1. June 2018

There are ten known species in the genus Mesonoemacheilus. They are small, 4-6 cm long, very lively loaches. All of them occur along the Western Ghats, a mountain chain along the west coast of India, the so called Malabar coast. These mountains border the inland against the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats are a so called hotspot of biodiversity. Almost each small river that flows to the sea contains its own, endemic  fish fauna, among them many loaches and among the loaches Mesonoemacheilus.

We were able ot import a good number of these charming fishes currently. Most individuals belong to the species Mesonoemacheilus guentheri, but there are also some individuals of other, closely related species, like M. herrei and the Zodiac loach, M. triangularis.

One should keep these fishes in a tank with fine sand bottom and some flat stones. Here the loaches will erect small territories. In this tank will occur a neverending swimming, hunting and quarreling. It will be never boaring to observe such an aquarium!

For our customers: the fish have code 429892 on our stocklist. Please note that we supply exclusively the whoilesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer