Corica loach

Nemacheilus corica

Also known as Corica stone loach

FreshwaterFish

Corica loach (Nemacheilus corica) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 68–79°F (20–26°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 2 in (5 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh
Family: Nemacheilidae

Overview

A small, well-mannered loach for the genus, happy worked into a peaceful South Asian community. Keep a few together and pair them with small, calm fish such as barbs, danios, and rasboras that keep to the upper water. It forages constantly over the bottom, so give it a varied floor of sand and fine gravel with pebbles and roots to nose around. Feed small sinking foods, frozen daphnia, and micro pellets, making sure enough reaches the substrate. A tank of around 75 liters or more suits a small foraging group.

In the wild

The corica loach ranges widely across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, in streams and rivers of the Ganges and Brahmaputra region including Nepal and Bangladesh. Recreate that with a bed of sand and pebbles, some rounded stones, and gentle to moderate flow. Keep it at 20 to 26 degrees Celsius with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5. It is adaptable to ordinary, clean water as long as it stays well filtered and not too warm.

Good to know

Nemacheilus corica was described by Francis Hamilton in 1822, making it one of the first stone loaches ever named, and it reaches only about 5 centimeters. Its dappled, spotted pattern earns it the trade name Indian polka dot loach. It belongs to the family Nemacheilidae, and its aquarium breeding has not been documented. Hamilton based the name on a local term, and its exact meaning has not survived.

Did you know

Francis Hamilton described this loach in 1822 from the Ganges plain using a local name, corica, whose meaning is now lost; the word has ridden along with the fish for two centuries without anyone being sure what it first meant.