Freckled lizard loach

Formosania stigmata

Also known as Spotted Formosania, Chinese giraffe loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 61–75°F (16–24°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: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Southeastern China
Family: Gastromyzontidae

Overview

Like its relative Chen's lizard loach, this is a slim, restless bottom fish that patrols the current rather than sitting still, so it wants a long tank and a group of five or six for company. It is mostly peaceful, with males doing little more than nudging each other away from grazing patches. It feeds mainly by rasping biofilm and algae from stone, and should be offered fine sinking foods and small frozen items to round out the diet. Give it calm, cool-water companions that can cope with strong flow. A tank of around 95 liters, long and open along the front, lets it use the current as a running lane.

In the wild

The freckled lizard loach lives in swift subtropical streams of southeastern China, cold and fast for much of the year and clear over rock. Keep it cool, 16 to 24 C, and treat summer warmth as the main hazard. It needs strong, oxygen-rich flow, smooth stones to graze and rest on, a sand or fine gravel base, and a pH held around 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

Formosania stigmata is an elongate hillstream loach in the family Gastromyzontidae, reaching about 10 centimeters. The epithet stigmata simply means marks or spots, for the scatter of dark freckling over its back and fins. Like others in the genus it bridges the slim lizard-loach shape and the flatter sucker body plan. How and when it spawns remain undocumented.

Did you know

The dramatic-sounding name stigmata is nothing mystical here: in Latin it just means marks or brands, and on this fish it refers to the plain dark freckles dotting its skin.

Tank mates

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