Hillstream loaches belong to the family of loaches. Probably the most beautiful species can be found in the genus Homaloptera. There are several closely related and similar looking species. In the German one calls it often “saddle-stain-loaches”, English, the animals become “lizard loaches” called.
Homaloptera parclitella is an extraordinarily beautiful hillstream loach from the black water of South-Thailand and Malaysia. It is closely related to the Indonesian H. orthogoniata. In the care, the up to 8 cm long animals are demanding: as black-water-inhabitants, they require a low-bacterial milieu, the water should be enriched absolutely with humic matter from peat, alder cones or leaves, otherwise the animals are very receptive to parasites. In addition, these fish have a high oxygen demand as inhabitants of running water. The water should therefore not be too warm, 22-25°C are ideal. As food live food is preferred in the beginning, later the animals also accept frost and dry food.
The beautiful fish are very peaceful, but like to impress each other in harmless ranking fights, which are very interesting to look at.
For our customers: the fish have code 421578 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
