This guy cleans my plants

[chonhzilla]

I have had this guy ( Butterfly Loach ) for about 2 months now. He's usually really shy, usually hiding or being pushed around by the Exodons. He's normally on the glass pushing algae around, but today he was in the middle of the tank on the leaves, cleaning them pretty good. Because the Exodons are such messy eaters food usually falls just about every where especially on the leaves.This little guy cleans it all up everyday. Today was the first time I've actually seen him do this. Pretty cool. I just thought I'd share this with you guys.

 

[gunnerx]

Nice pics! And that's a nice loach. I've never seen that before. My Bristlenose plecos and Otocinclus cats are great at cleaning up plants. I enjoy watching them while their at it. It's like a circus act as they flip over from the top of the leaf to the bottom side then flip again to the next leaf. I used to have tons of diatom on all the leaves. Don't see them anymore.

 

[Sir-KS]

I want some. Where...When...How??

 

[amehel0]

in aus there usually under 15 bux

 

[Fabricator]

Do you know if they eat hair algae?

 

[chonhzilla]

Do you know if they eat hair algae?

Sadly he doesn't.

 

[247Plants]

Typically they are a cold water species. They are also known as Hillstream loaches.

 

[Sic_Maggot13]

the perfect combo for a planted tank is siamese algea eaters and butterfly louch's

 

[philliptobin]

I want some. Where...When...How??

You could try here: http://www.franksaquarium.com/loaches.htm but not always in stock.

 

[Lupin]

Research further before you get some. These are not your typical bristlenose plecos. They hardly will survive temperature soaring above 76 degrees Fahrenheit and insufficient supply of oxygen. Sorry but I would suggest a river system when keeping these fish. They originate from fast flowing rivers and as such, they should be kept in an environment similar to where they came from. Click www.loaches.com and proceed to the article section where you will see more information on how best to keep them alive for a long time.

All hillies eat algae in the wild along with aufwuches which harbor in the algae. This does not make them necessarily herbivores. I have a few of these myself in a river setup composing of 4 species of hillies. Chonhzilla, I believe I've seen your pics in another forum I think. That is a Gastromyzon zebrinus. You get plenty of different species in shipments of hillstream loaches. A few others you might encounter are Gastromyzon stellatus and Gastromyzon scitulus.