Honeycomb loach

Leptobotia taeniops

Also known as Honeycomb botia

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–79°F (18–26°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 9.1 in (23 cm)
Minimum tank: 106 gal (400 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Tankmates: Tankmates with caution
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Yangtze basin, China
Family: Botiidae

Overview

The honeycomb loach is a big, active bottom dweller that fares best among its own kind, so keep three at the very least and ideally five or more, which spreads out its assertive pecking order. It is mostly peaceful with fish it cannot bully but hard on anything small, so pick tankmates with care: robust, cool-tolerant midwater species, never tiny shrimp or delicate long-finned fish. Offer meaty frozen foods such as bloodworm, white mosquito larvae and Mysis, plus sinking pellets and wafers once it settles. Only add it to a mature, well-filtered tank of about 400 liters or more.

In the wild

This loach is endemic to the middle and upper Yangtze basin in China, concentrated around Hunan and Dongting Lake, where it works the margins of large, cool, fast rivers. Recreate that with a sand or gravel bed, water-worn boulders and driftwood for shade and cover, and strong, oxygen-rich current. It is subtropical, comfortable from roughly 18 to 26 degrees Celsius, and does well at pH 6.0 to 7.5 in clean, low-nitrate water.

Good to know

Leptobotia taeniops is a botiid that grows to around 23 centimeters, its flanks broken into a fine netted or honeycomb pattern that gives it the common name. Members of this genus have concealed, erectile spines beneath each eye that can snag a net or nick skin, so move them in a jar. There is no aquarium breeding record, and traded fish come from the wild, where dams and pollution have made the species scarcer.