Common spiny loach

Lepidocephalichthys thermalis

Also known as Lesser loach, Indian spiny loach

FreshwaterFish

Common spiny loach (Lepidocephalichthys thermalis) — (c) Thuhiru S. Yapa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 3.1 in (8 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: India and Sri Lanka
Family: Cobitidae

Overview

This is one of the easier small loaches to settle in, calm and hardy, and it does best in company, so keep a group of five or six. It spends its day working the bottom, taking in mouthfuls of fine sand and sifting them for scraps and small invertebrates. Temperament is peaceful toward its own kind and toward other fish, so pair it with small, gentle community species that will not push it away from food. Offer sinking pellets and wafers along with frozen bloodworm or daphnia, and make sure enough reaches the floor. A tank of around 75 liters gives a starter group room to forage.

In the wild

In the wild this loach turns up almost everywhere across lowland India and Sri Lanka, from clear streams and ponds to paddy fields and roadside ditches, usually over soft sandy bottoms in slow water. That adaptable nature makes it forgiving in the aquarium. Give it a bed of fine sand it can sift, some shade from plants or wood, a temperature of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius, and pH anywhere from 6.0 to 7.5, and it settles quickly.

Good to know

Lepidocephalichthys is a genus of spiny loaches in the family Cobitidae, named for the small erectile spine set below each eye. L. thermalis grows to about 8 centimeters and carries the wide tolerance its history hints at. Breeding in home tanks is essentially unrecorded, so this is a fish to enjoy for its behavior rather than to spawn. The species name thermalis, meaning of the hot springs, records the warm spring in Sri Lanka where the first specimens were collected.

Did you know

The name thermalis means of the hot springs. The first specimens known to science came from the warm Kanniya springs in Sri Lanka, yet the fish itself lives almost anywhere water collects, from ditches to paddies.