TankBud

Hanshu hillstream loach

Metahomaloptera omeiensis

Also known as Hanshu lizard hillstream loach, Omei hillstream loach

FreshwaterFish

Hanshu hillstream loach (Metahomaloptera omeiensis)

Care at a glance

Temperature
61–72°F
16–22°C
pH
6.0–7.5
Adult size
2.4 in
6 cm
Minimum tank
21 gal
80 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Social
Swim level
Bottom
Difficulty
Medium
Breeding
No record
Rarity
Rare
Family
Gastromyzontidae
Origin
Mount Emei streams, Sichuan, China

Overview

The Hanshu hillstream loach is a small cold-water loach for a cool, fast tank with plenty of oxygen. It is best kept by someone with a little experience.

Did you know

Mount Emei, home of the Hanshu hillstream loach, is one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains and is ringed with temples.

Caring for the Hanshu hillstream loach

Give Hanshu hillstream loaches 21 gal (80 L) or more, with a boulder field of smooth stones and cobbles over a fine substrate. They grip the rock and graze biofilm through the day.

The Hanshu hillstream loach is a cold-water specialist, and in a warm, still tank it slowly starves and weakens. Keep it at 61 to 72°F (16 to 22°C) with a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. Keeping it cool through summer is the real challenge. Run heavy flow and keep the surface broken, so the water stays saturated with oxygen.

Grazing alone rarely sustains it in captivity. Offer fine sinking foods, crushed wafers and small frozen items, and make sure the current does not carry them off.

Keep a small, peaceful group of five or six. Its tank mates should be other cool-water, current-loving fish with a calm temperament. Its spawning behavior is not on record.

Good to know

Metahomaloptera omeiensis is a small hillstream loach in the family Gastromyzontidae. Chang described it in 1944 and named it for Mount Emei, its type locality. The genus prefix meta points to its intermediate form between two other loach groups. Like its relatives, it presses its paired fins against the rock to form a suction hold in fast water.

In the wild

The Hanshu hillstream loach grips stone in cold, tumbling streams on Mount Emei in Sichuan, western China. Those streams run high enough on the mountain that the water stays cold and fast all year.

Weekly picks

Tank mates

The Hanshu hillstream loach is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

What size tank does a Hanshu hillstream loach need?

A Hanshu hillstream loach needs at least 21 gal (80 L). It spends most of its time in the bottom.

What temperature and pH does a Hanshu hillstream loach need?

A Hanshu hillstream loach is comfortable at 61–72°F (16–22°C) with a pH of 6.0–7.5.

What does a Hanshu hillstream loach eat?

A Hanshu hillstream loach grazes biofilm from stone, but grazing alone rarely sustains it in captivity. Offer it fine sinking foods, crushed wafers and small frozen items, and make sure the current does not carry them off.

How big does a Hanshu hillstream loach get?

An adult Hanshu hillstream loach reaches about 2.4 in (6 cm).

Related species