Sumatran Clown Loaches!

[irwan]

I dont keep sumatra clown loach at the moment as I personally prefer kalimantan than sumatra. Will ask my friend to send me directly from Jambi, one of clown loach source in Sumatera. He keeps several clown. Will post some pics after getting some speciment for comparison. Another source in Sumatera is Palembang which I have no knowledge about the speciment.

As kalimantan speciment is more preferred by trader, I guess many clown in market are kalimantan

 

[RD.]

Great info Irwan, thanks. When you get some photos it might be best to start a new thread "Borneo/Kalimantan vs. Sumatra" so that we don't further derail ewurm's topic. Perhaps we will finally get to the bottom of this clown loach variant situation. Thanks again.

 

[ewurm]

Feel free to derail! Anyway I was looking at this map of Indonesia, maybe you can help. Looks like the entire island is called Borneo, and the The Indonesian region is known as Kalimantan. Perhaps the variance in the fish is that the major exporting region has loaches that have the black caudal peduncle fins and in the remote regions they have another strain that has the red caudal peduncle fins with better colors than the "Bornean" strain. Or maybe the information on the paper is incorrect. Without ever seeing a picture of the "Kalimantan" strain I can't say whether or not there actually is one. It's unfortunate that this region is not studied the same way the Amazon aquatic biodiversity is studied.

 

[RD.]

It's unfortunate that this region is not studied the same way the Amazon aquatic biodiversity is studied.

I agree, overall there is very little info out there, and IMO most of it is open to debate. Other than some illustrations on LOL, I have yet to see any side by side comparisons of clown loaches that have been collected from the various geographical locations. Personally I think that the information on paper is incorrect.

I PM'd the following photo to irwan and he confirmed that without question the clowns in this photo (from my personal collection) are from Kalimantan.

 

[ewurm]

I agree, overall there is very little info out there, and IMO most of it is open to debate. Other than some illustrations on LOL, I have yet to see any side by side comparisons of clown loaches that have been collected from the various geographical locations. Personally I think that the information on paper is incorrect.

I PM'd the following photo to irwan and he confirmed that without question the clowns in this photo (from my personal collection) are from Kalimantan.

What size is that fish? It definitely has the Bornean markings but the colors are amazing. I've never seen one with such sharp fins and white markings. That's one of the sharpest looking Clowns I have seen.

 

[RD.]

It's between 6-7 inches TL. That image posted above is somewhat compressed, if you click on the following link you can get an even clearer image of that loach. What appears to be spots on that loach, is actually sand flying through the water.

http://www.ida-may.com/other/fish740.jpg

BTW - I have others that have even more intense coloration, some of them were what I described previously in this discussion, that being they had vibrant, almost glow in the dark, solid orange pelvic fins when they were very small. (approx 2 - 2 1/2 inches)
Now they all have the typical black spot on the pelvic fins, go figure?

I have always assumed that the majority of these juvie loaches with such intense coloration were collected in Sumatra, but if what irwan is stating is true, then the very drab pale 4-6" loaches that I have occasionally seen for sale in the LFS's are the Sumatran strain, and the colorful ones have all been collected in Kalimantan. The latter variants are what I typically see for sale here, which makes sense, color sells, pale washed out fish don't.

If there are loaches out there more colorful than mine, I've yet to see them.

I look forward to seeing photos from irwan.

 

[irwan]

borneo is same as kalimantan. Borneo is well known word for kalimantan amongs westeners and malaysian while indonesian native call the island as kalimantan

Never heard that malaysia river produce clown loach. I had discussion with malaysian that informed me he bought biz size clown loach with price triple than price in indonesia. This indicate that they have no clown loach on their river system. In addition, clown loach is singapore comes from Jakarta as point of export. If malaysia has clown loach, it will be more economical for spore to import the fish from malaysia, given the benefit in shipping cost

Some region that well known as clown loach source in kalimantan is palangkaraya and pontianak while in sumatra is jambi and palembang

I believe that kalimantan river system bring benefit to good colour of its native fishes. Not only clown loach, but also arowana and wild betta. Wild betta in kalimantan is more attractive in color compared to sumatera. Same thing for aro. super red arowana origin is Kalimantan while sumatra is well known for its RTG and mahato golden.

Yes definetely sure that Neil's loach comes from kalimantan. I will try to take pic of sumatera's clown loach as good as I can (I am not a pro photografer, bad skill in photography )

Never directly agree with which written on paper.

Some paper said that maximum size for hemigabrus wyckii (cristal eye catfish) is only 90 cm in wild. I personally have seen speciment that reach over 1 m in standard length.

We have biodiversity more than what amazon system have, but we lack of research. We have tor tombroides is sumatera and kalimantan but no one ever study nor breed them while malaysian has good research on them as mahseer has high price for its delicious taste.

 

[irwan]

Fish will show its maximum color if the fish is not stress. So I guess i have to take pic on hobiest aqua instead trader aqua.

What size is that fish? It definitely has the Bornean markings but the colors are amazing. I've never seen one with such sharp fins and white markings. That's one of the sharpest looking Clowns I have seen.

 

[RD.]

Irwan ....... at this point I would settle for photos from aqua or trader, anything is much more than we have now! lol

BTW - my loaches have no rivals in their tank, I have a shoal of 16 in a 125 gallon tank, and they pretty much have the tank to themselves.
They have all been raised since small juvies on the same pellet food, and the water quality is always pristine. I agree, all fish show their best color when stress is kept to a minimum. Pristine water, premium diet, and low stress environment makes for healthy fish.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[irwan]

One of my clown loach. It is from Kalimantan, sent by my friend. I keep 4 big CL.

Sorry that I did not take picture while it swims in aqua considering my tank is vey big that can make it difficult to take proper pic to show its color

Btw, i only used My Nokia camera, dont expect the pic as good as SLR camera