Homaloptera sp. (Unidentified)

Summary

Scientific Name: Homaloptera species (NOT IDENTIFIED)

Common name: Lizard Loach, Gecko Loach.

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: Not known

Sexual Dimorphism: Females probably plumper in healthy, well-fed fish.

Maximum size: Not known

Similar to: Homaloptera orthogoniata Complex, but lacks their type of body markings.

Care: Inhabit fast flowing streams over boulders, often in forested areas. Collection reports describe "Blackwater" conditions at many sites. Aquarium should duplicate these conditions, including high water flow, as these fish have very high oxygen requirements.

Homaloptera species require similar conditions to other Hillstream species. All need excellent water-flow and aeration, numerous rocky hiding places and smooth pebbles and boulders to graze over. Lighting should be bright to encourage algal growth in the aquarium. Plants are not necessary as the fish do not normally encounter them in the wild, but they will help with water-quality. Suitable plants for high-flow environments are Anubias and Microsoreum. These will grow on rock-work or driftwood.

See: Hillstream Loaches: Specialists at Life in the Fast Lane for more detailed explanation.

Feeding: Good quality flake, sinking pellets, algae wafers, thawed frozen Bloodworm, Mysis Shrimp, natural algae an advantage.

Water parameters: pH: 6.5-7.5. Hardness: Medium Soft to Medium. Max dh: 12

Temperature: 70ºF to 78ºF (21-25.5°C)

Breeding: Not bred in aquaria.

Notes

This species arrived in 2004 mixed in with a shipment of Homaloptera confuzona , but is clearly a different species. Like all the Orthogoniata group of loaches, this lovely fish will doubtless not travel well and can be somewhat difficult to acclimatize to aquarium conditions.

Almost certainly best kept in groups of their own kind, but will also mix well with other Hillstream type loaches.

It is easy to confuse this species with others in the complex because in all species, variation of pattern means some fish look quite similar to other species. All the Orthogoniata Complex have nose to eye stripes, but in this example the stripes are far less defined than in all the other species. All species in this complex have different keel shape and size. Scale keels may be used by the aquarist as a means of identification if one can enlarge a high-quality digital image sufficiently to show the detail. See HERE for scale keel descriptions of several species.

Unfortunately, these are the only two photographs available of this fish, so no definitive identification may be made.

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