Chinese golden zebra loach

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep a group of four or more in an unheated or lightly heated setup; sustained tropical warmth wears it down. It takes sinking foods, frozen fare, and snails. An active, nosy fish that patrols the floor and appreciates rockwork to weave through.

In the wild

This subtropical loach comes from streams in Guangxi and northern Vietnam, where water runs clear and cooler than tropical norms. Keep it at 18 to 25 degrees Celsius with current, high oxygen, smooth stones, and pH 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

Sinibotia pulchra reaches about 10 centimeters and belongs to the Chinese branch of the botiid family. Gold and olive bars alternate down the body, and like its relatives it carries the suborbital spine botiids can raise when alarmed.

Did you know

It is one of the loaches happiest without a heater in most homes; a room-temperature tank in the low 20s Celsius is closer to its Guangxi streams than a tropical setup.

Common questions

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