Bengal loach

Care at a glance

Overview

The Bengal loach is a striped botiid that does best in a group of six or more, where it forms a loose pecking order and spends the day chasing and foraging together. Kept alone or in pairs it tends to turn nervous or pushy, so numbers matter. It stays near the bottom, sifting sand and rooting through plants and wood for food, and it makes short work of nuisance snails. It is mostly peaceful but lively, so choose robust, similarly active tankmates. Offer sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, and blackworms, along with the odd blanched vegetable. A group is comfortable in a tank of about 140 liters or larger.

In the wild

Botia dario comes from the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems of India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, where it lives in clear, flowing stretches over sand, gravel, and stone. These waters are moderately warm at 23 to 26 C and range from slightly acidic to neutral, around pH 6 to 7.5. A good tank copies that setting with a soft substrate, water-worn rocks, tangles of driftwood, and hardy plants that create shady lanes. Brisk, well-oxygenated flow and clean water suit it, since it comes from habitats that stay fresh and moving year round.

Good to know

Botia dario is a member of Botiidae and reaches around 13 cm as an adult, wearing a golden-yellow body crossed by seven or more dark bands. As with all botiine loaches, it has a bifid, erectile spine tucked below each eye that it can raise as a defense, so it needs gentle handling near nets. Bengal loaches are egg-scattering fish that undertake spawning migrations in the wild, and there is no reliable record of them breeding in home aquariums, so trade stock is wild caught or farmed.

Did you know

The Bengal loach carries the older scientific name Cobitis dario, given by Hamilton in 1822 from specimens in the Ganges. Young fish show the boldest banding, which softens and gains a greenish sheen as they mature.

Related species

• 

  Burmese border loach

  Botia histrionica

  5.1 in (13 cm)53 gal (200 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Gangetic loach

  Botia rostrata

  4.7 in (12 cm)42 gal (160 L)66–81°F (19–27°C)

• 

  Polka-Dot Loach

  Botia kubotai

  5.9 in (15 cm)42 gal (160 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Zebra loach

  Botia striata

  3.5 in (9 cm)37 gal (140 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  Yoyo loach

  Botia almorhae

  6.3 in (16 cm)42 gal (160 L)66–81°F (19–27°C)

• 

  Skunk loach

  Yasuhikotakia morleti

  3.3 in (8.5 cm)37 gal (140 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)