Gara rufa is aka Dr fish because they like to graze on human skin and is employed for foot massage in Thailand. I bought a couple of them as mislabeled panda gara which I also have in my tank. Both are great algae eater, but behave differently as rufa will instinctively cling to my arm every time I submerged into water. I have to shake them off to prevent riding out of water. They never cling to other fish though so there is no danger of hurting other fish. But eventually I lost both from landing off the tank by accident.
Garra rufa at Fish Story
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
Honestly, how can anyone not love these little guys? 
I started with 4 very small ones a few years ago, one of which was lost in the interim due to jumping. They grew to their current size of maybe 5 inches within the first year and have remained at that size since. I added another 6 small ones last year. Sadly, they came from a batch that seems to have had poor genetics, as at least two of the new ones have developed slightly crooked spines; perhaps they came that way and I just didn't notice until they grew, but I don't think so. But even the Quasimodos are active, healthy and show good appetites.
They seem to be a very hardy fish in terms of temperature. The initial 4 spent their first year in a heated tank at around 75F and did wonderfully. After some research on them I began keeping them in a seasonally-cool tank that got down to 55-60F throughout each winter, and they still did great and remained active and healthy. And during their 2nd year with me, they went outside into a stock tank that was located in much too sunny a location and remained over 80F for weeks at a time during the days, cooling to below 70F each night and then back up to 80 or even occasionally 90F the next day. The fish took it in stride; I couldn't really observe them closely in a black, vegetation-choked tank so not sure how active they were, but at the end of our short summer they were big, beautiful and healthy.
I'm not suggesting that they should be kept at 80F+ nor at 55F continuously year round. I also don't mean to imply that those high temps would have been successful if maintained 24 hours per day. But these fish likely live in small streams that are tumbling, cool and highly-oxygenated at times of the year, and which then largely dry out forcing the fish into warm, stagnant little ponds at other times. The fish are adapted to this.
Something to keep in mind when an aquarist spends several days fretting about how to gradually change their tank from 75F to 77F, terrified that the fish will suffer thermal shock and go belly up...
I started with 4 very small ones a few years ago, one of which was lost in the interim due to jumping. They grew to their current size of maybe 5 inches within the first year and have remained at that size since. I added another 6 small ones last year. Sadly, they came from a batch that seems to have had poor genetics, as at least two of the new ones have developed slightly crooked spines; perhaps they came that way and I just didn't notice until they grew, but I don't think so. But even the Quasimodos are active, healthy and show good appetites.
They seem to be a very hardy fish in terms of temperature. The initial 4 spent their first year in a heated tank at around 75F and did wonderfully. After some research on them I began keeping them in a seasonally-cool tank that got down to 55-60F throughout each winter, and they still did great and remained active and healthy. And during their 2nd year with me, they went outside into a stock tank that was located in much too sunny a location and remained over 80F for weeks at a time during the days, cooling to below 70F each night and then back up to 80 or even occasionally 90F the next day. The fish took it in stride; I couldn't really observe them closely in a black, vegetation-choked tank so not sure how active they were, but at the end of our short summer they were big, beautiful and healthy.
I'm not suggesting that they should be kept at 80F+ nor at 55F continuously year round. I also don't mean to imply that those high temps would have been successful if maintained 24 hours per day. But these fish likely live in small streams that are tumbling, cool and highly-oxygenated at times of the year, and which then largely dry out forcing the fish into warm, stagnant little ponds at other times. The fish are adapted to this.
Something to keep in mind when an aquarist spends several days fretting about how to gradually change their tank from 75F to 77F, terrified that the fish will suffer thermal shock and go belly up...
