jn Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 Finally treated myself to some new fish, I bought a trio of Borneo suckers today They're now officially the most expensive fish I own (I'm sure thats gonna make some of you guys laugh!!!) In another window I'm surfing loaches.com to identify which type they are. I'm pretty sure they're just gastromyzon but not sure which type. One has has red nostrils. They haven't done alot of fin flaring yet but I'm pretty sure 2 have blue in their tail fins but not in their dorsal fins (to be confirmed!) The blue finned ones are spotted. The other has more of a lined pattern but not 'striped' one per se. (like not sewellia lineolata.. could be just a different pattern of the same variety though I guess...but I don't think it has the blue so maybe not) One chappie though is BONE THIN! I've only ever seen borneo suckers once or twice before but it's pretty clear this one is emaciated. He must have been at the bottom of the pecking order. He is well sunken in behind his head and I'm pretty sure the rest of him is just his bone shape! The good news is that I dropped some food in there (I was going to wait till tomorrow before feeding them until I spotted Mr. Skinny) and he hasn't stopped eating since I don't know what their normal behavior is but his colour seems good (nice and dark, good contrast with the spots) and he seems to be breathing at the same rate as everyone else so I don't think he unwell.. just HUNGRY! How fast should he start to put on some weight? They are in a sterilized tank that has been running with plants in it for about 10 days. I know it will cycle but I worry still that my other fish may have something as I lost one fish just the other week. So no media going into the clean tank.. I'll just have to keep an eye on it. 3 small suckers in about 30L with plants shouldn't be a problem I hope. :bounce: Just felt like sharing my news!! ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted December 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 The skinny one is a lot smaller too? Are they maybe just skinny when they're young?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinsonMassif Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 Hi JN, I too have a trio of borneo suckers. They are real characters. Mine get territorial over a river stone, the one on top of the stone tries to defend his position by pushing the others off of it, so funny to watch. I like one of their common names: stingray pleco. Mine fly through the sand similarly to a stingray. I have two full bodied fish, and the third is on the skinny side. The skinny one spends most of the day cleaning the glass walls so I don't know why it is still skinny, go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 Check this out http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pictorial-species-search-index/sucker-bodied-hillstreams "Loaches On Line" is a great site for Hillstream Loaches. Good luck surfing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted December 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2007 Thanks purplecatfish... I had been surfing that site I probably remembered it from a post of yours a while back I can't remember they name right now but I'm pretty sure that 2 are the same..the ones with the unbroken blue rays in the tails. Here we go.. these guys...so sexing them is only possible by body shape? Do the males get more barbels? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/ga ... nocephalus They're quite pretty. Very elegant looking creatures. The other didn't look anything like the ones pictured. He definitely had a pattern. Its not spots and actually I had said it was stripes but it isn't stripes either. I'm pretty sure its repeating pattern one his sides that liike like an '0' with a vertical bar in the middle of the '0'. (This is the skinny chap) I can't see colour in his tail but he is smaller and obviously not in the best condition so who knows. He's been keeping it shut too so that doesn't help. Is there a good way to tell if its not a gastrmyzon but one of the other similar species? I'll try to post a pic once they settle in a bit better... They're hiding behind a little dense'ish clump of plants in the back corner when I walk in.. but I've already seen them sitting on the smooth flat stones I put in at the point where I figured there was the most current. (There's 3 of them so they don't have to figh .. unless they feel like it!) Thankfully for me this is right at the front middle of the tank (AR380 - 40L with a very high turnover from the pump it comes with, going through through the trickle filter so should be plenty of oxygen) and pretty good flow, although obviously not as good as a river tank setup. Maybe someday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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