Any Ideas?

[DH247]

I think he may be a loach of some kind, but I'm really not sure. He was the only one in with a few remaining Hill-Stream loaches that I picked up today. He has dual dorsal fins and his ventral fins are pretty much fused together to act like a suction cup so he can 'stick' to smooth objects. Here are a few pics, with a caveat, I do not have an image editor yet so they are very large! So download with patience or high bandwidth please!! There. You've been warned . I am working to correct this problem!

http://www.cam-somerville.com/fish/Unknown1.JPG
http://www.cam-somerville.com/fish/Unknown2.JPG
http://www.cam-somerville.com/fish/Unknown_head.JPG

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Cam

 

[retro_gk]

Nice find! That is a goby, not a loach. If they came in as a contaminant with hill stream loaches, depending on the country of origin, it could be a Sicydium, Stiphodon or Rhinogobius species. I am only familiar with a couple of species in that group, so cannot ID them further.

They like well oxygenated water and like to graze on aufwuchs. A well established tank will do wonders for their well being.

Looking at the shape of the head, I think it is a Rhinogobius species. If you want more info, I suggest you forward the images to naomi (at) gobiidae (dot) com

 

[DH247]

Thanks very much!! Very cool! They guys at the LFS weren't sure what he was exactly so they just called him a loach for me and put a price on em of $6.50CDN :biggrin:.

 

[DH247]

BTW, what are aufwuchs???

 

[MaryJPa]

Aufwuchs is German for algae.:wink:

 

[RiC]

Aufwuchs is German for algae.:wink:

Not exactly :wink:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufwuchs

 

[MaryJPa]

I asked Loaches online and posted your pics. This is the response I got about your fish.
Jim Powers said:
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"It looks like Rhinogobius duospilus (formerly R. wui) which is, in fact, a freshwater goby. This one looks to be a female to me. Males are more colorful and have a more rounded snout.
I have this species and they like hillstream loach type conditions with good flow, high oxygen and temps in the 70-76F range. They also need hiding places and will excavate areas under flat stones. Favorite foods are brine shrimp and bloodworms in that order. They will may snap at a passing flake, but will usually spit it out. Mine spawned by laying eggs on a flat stone that was guarded by the male. Unfortunatley, the eggs were eaten by other fish in the tank." :wink:
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