Zebra loach

Water parameters

Tolerated range for this species. Aim for the middle of each band rather than the extremes.

Tank and habitat

Substrate: sand.

Behavior

Plant interaction: plant safe.

Feeding

Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp, and daphnia, live blackworms, and blanched vegetables. They forage over the substrate and into rock crevices, working every gap, and take small snails when they find them. Feed once or twice daily with sinking food. Unlike some loaches they are mostly active by day, which makes feeding easy to manage. Not fussy about food type.

Compatibility

• Peaceful and active loach that fits into community tanks with medium-sized, non-aggressive species. Less boisterous than yoyo loaches and less territorial than most Botia species.
• Groups of 5+ are recommended. Like all loaches, they're social and show more natural behavior in groups. Single specimens hide excessively.
• Good with barbs, tetras, rainbowfish, corydoras, and other loaches. Avoid pairing with very small nano fish that might be stressed by the loach's active foraging.
• Eats small snails. Useful for controlling pest snail populations. Will also eat ornamental snails, so don't keep with nerites or mystery snails you want to preserve.

Origin and habitat

Botia striata, the zebra or candy stripe loach, was described by the Indian zoologist C. R. Narayan Rao in 1920 from specimens found near Mysore. It belongs to the family Botiidae (order Cypriniformes) and is endemic to a small part of the Western Ghats in southern India, in clear hill streams of Maharashtra and the Krishna River drainage. The body carries seven to nine broad dark bars, bluish-green to near-black, over a yellowish ground, with pale lines inside the bars that are usually straight but sometimes break or branch, so no two fish look quite alike. Young fish show a red nose that fades with age, and the small downturned mouth is ringed by four pairs of barbels. It is one of the smaller Botia: standard length tops out around 7.8 cm, with total length reaching about 10 cm in well-grown aquarium fish. The IUCN lists it as Endangered, assessed in 2011 on the basis of a very restricted range squeezed by habitat loss, deforestation, pollution, and heavy collection for the ornamental trade. In its home range the fish is also a food source and a bit of income for the Katkari people. Both wild-caught and hormone-bred farm stock reach the trade.

Breeding

Not known to spawn in home aquariums, as with botiid loaches generally; the seasonal cues the genus seems to need are hard to recreate in a tank. Commercial supply comes from hormone-induced spawning in dedicated facilities. External sexing is unreliable, with mature females tending only to look a little fuller. Nearly every zebra loach offered for sale is therefore wild-caught or farm-bred with hormones.

Common problems

Ich is the disease seen most often, usually on newly bought fish. Because these loaches are effectively scaleless and react badly to full-strength medication, treat it with raised temperature (30°C for about ten days) rather than a chemical dose at full strength. Skinny disease from internal parasites turns up in wild-caught and poorly kept farm stock and responds to levamisole. Shyness in small groups eases once more individuals are added. Otherwise the species is hardy and long-lived, eight to twelve years or more in clean, stable water. Avoid sharp or abrasive substrate, since they rest on and root through the bottom; sand or smooth gravel suits them best.

Bioload

Further reading

• How to cycle a fish tank
• Stocking ideas by tank size