Annam hillstream loach

Annamia normani

Also known as Norman's hillstream loach, Vietnamese butterfly loach

FreshwaterFish

Annam hillstream loach (Annamia normani) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 68–77°F (20–25°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 3.7 in (9.4 cm)
Minimum tank: 25 gal (95 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Mekong basin, Laos and Vietnam
Family: Gastromyzontidae

Overview

This is a peaceful, current-loving bottom fish that does best in a small group of its own kind, so plan on five or six rather than a single specimen. It spends the day clinging to stone and wood in the fastest water, grazing the biofilm that coats hard surfaces, so a mature tank with established algae matters more than any fancy feeding routine. Offer sinking foods such as crushed algae wafers, fine sinking pellets, and a little frozen bloodworm or daphnia, and make sure the flow does not sweep it all away before the loaches reach it. Keep it only with calm, slim tankmates that enjoy the same brisk water and will not outcompete it at the floor. A tank of around 95 liters or larger gives a group room along the current line.

In the wild

Annamia normani lives in swift, shallow, rocky stretches of Mekong tributaries in Laos and Vietnam, where the water runs clear, cool and heavily oxygenated over cobbles and bedrock. Recreate that with a river-style layout: smooth rounded stones, strong laminar flow from a large pump, and a substrate of sand and pebbles. Hold the temperature on the cooler side, 20 to 25 C, keep oxygen high with plenty of surface movement, and aim for a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

A member of the hillstream loach family Gastromyzontidae, this is an elongate, flattened fish reaching up to about 9 centimeters, far more streamlined than the disc-shaped Borneo suckers. It was named by the ichthyologist Hora for the British zoologist John Roxborough Norman, who had loaned him the type specimen. Its breeding has not been recorded in the aquarium, and little is documented about how it spawns in the wild.

Did you know

In the hobby it sometimes travels under the name Vietnamese giraffe loach, after the network of dark markings over a pale body that recalls the patchwork coat of a giraffe.

Tank mates

Annam hillstream loach is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.