Dwarf white horseface loach

Kottelatlimia hipporhynchos

Also known as White horseface loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 5.0–7.0
Adult size: 2 in (5 cm)
Minimum tank: 14 gal (54 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Blackwater streams of Borneo
Family: Cobitidae

Overview

A small, pale burrowing loach for soft-water tanks, best kept in a group of at least five or six so it feels secure and stays active. It rests on clean sand and dives straight into it, using its pointed snout to sort the grains for small food items. It is peaceful and pays no attention to other fish, so keep it with equally gentle, soft-water species and nothing large or boisterous. Feed small sinking foods and frozen bloodworm, daphnia, and cyclops, offered where they can reach the bottom. A quiet tank of around 54 liters with a deep bed of fine white sand suits a group.

In the wild

This loach comes from southern Borneo, where it lives in clear, tannin-stained forest streams running over white sand and dives into the substrate to hide. Match that with a soft, fine sand bed, gentle flow, and water darkened with leaf litter or wood. Keep it warm at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius and soft and acidic, with pH from 5.0 to 7.0. Dim lighting and a mature tank full of small live foods bring it out of the sand more often.

Good to know

Kottelatlimia hipporhynchos is a dwarf cobitid loach described in 2008, reaching about 5 centimeters. Its name comes from the Greek for horse snout, for the long tapering head it uses to plough sand. Unlike its close relative K. pristes, which keeps to peat and leaf litter, this species prefers open white sand. No captive spawning has been documented.

Did you know

The genus name Kottelatlimia is stitched together from the surnames of two ichthyologists, Maurice Kottelat and Kelvin Lim, who described the group. Few fish carry two scientists inside a single word.

Tank mates

Dwarf white horseface loach is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.