Fang's hillstream loach

Pseudogastromyzon fangi

Also known as Fang's butterfly loach, Yellow tiger sucker loach

FreshwaterFish

Fang's hillstream loach (Pseudogastromyzon fangi) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–75°F (18–24°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 3.9 in (10 cm)
Minimum tank: 25 gal (95 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Guangxi and Guangdong, China
Family: Gastromyzontidae

Overview

One of the more approachable Chinese hillstream loaches, this is a sociable grazer for a cool, fast tank, best kept in a group of five or more. It is mostly peaceful, but males are lively in season, shoving each other in bloodless contests over grazing stones and nesting sites. It rasps algae and biofilm off rock through the day and takes fine sinking foods, crushed wafers, and small frozen items readily. Keep it with calm, current-loving fish of cool-water tastes rather than tropical community species. A tank of around 95 liters, long rather than tall, gives a group grazing room and space for males to hold territory.

In the wild

Fang's hillstream loach comes from fast, subtropical streams in Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China, where the water is clear, well-oxygenated and cool for much of the year. Keep it unheated or gently cooled at 18 to 24 C, with strong flow and plenty of surface turbulence for oxygen. Provide flat grazing stones and rounded cobbles, a sand and gravel bed, and a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

A butterfly loach in the family Gastromyzontidae, Pseudogastromyzon fangi grows to up to about 10 centimeters and is named for a Chinese ichthyologist called Fang. It is one of the more breedable members of the family: males excavate and defend small pits beneath stones, where eggs are laid and guarded, and spawnings do happen in well-run, cool river tanks.

Did you know

For a fish built to cling flat to rock, its breeding is surprisingly cichlid-like: males dig out gravel pits and stand guard over them, a nesting instinct few keepers expect from a hillstream loach.

Tank mates

Fang's hillstream loach is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.