Dwarf lizard loach

Neohomaloptera johorensis

Also known as Johor lizard loach, Red mini marble loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°C)
pH: 5.5–7.0
Adult size: 1 in (2.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Malay Peninsula and Sumatra
Family: Balitoridae

Overview

Unusually for the family, this tiny loach is not a torrent fish, so keep a group of them in a mature, gently flowing nano tank rich in microfauna rather than a roaring river setup. They stay on the bottom, perching on leaves, wood, and plants as much as on stone, and they graze biofilm and hunt tiny invertebrates. Peaceful and very small, they suit calm nano companions such as small rasboras and licorice gouramis that like the same soft, acidic water. Feed the smallest sinking foods, crushed flake, and micro frozen items like cyclops and baby brine shrimp. A well-established 40 liter tank is enough.

In the wild

The dwarf lizard loach comes from peat swamp forests and slow blackwater streams of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, not the fast hill streams most of its relatives prefer. Its water is soft, acidic, and stained with tannins, so give it gentle flow, leaf litter over sand, and soft water at pH about 5.5 to 7.0 and 22 to 26 degrees Celsius. Fish from the darkest blackwater tend to show more orange in the body.

Good to know

Neohomaloptera johorensis is the only species in its genus and the miniature of the river-loach family Balitoridae, mature at only about 2.5 centimeters. Herre described it from Johor in Malaysia in 1944. Rather than clinging in whitewater, it lives in still, acidic swamp water, which makes it the family's odd one out. Breeding is not recorded in aquariums.

Did you know

Almost every relative of this fish clings to rock in fast, cool torrents, yet the dwarf lizard loach lives in warm, tea-colored, acidic swamp water instead. It is a hillstream loach the size of a fingernail that behaves like a blackwater fish.