Horseface loach

Care at a glance

Overview

The horseface loach is a long, sand-dwelling fish named for its down-curved snout, and it is social enough that a group of five or more settles better than a lone fish. It spends the day half-buried in soft sand, sifting mouthfuls for food and leaving only its eyes showing, then becomes more active around dusk. It is mostly peaceful and works well with calm, cool-water community fish, though small shrimp may be seen as food. A deep, soft sand bed is essential so it can bury without injury. Feed sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, and blackworms that settle to the floor. Given its size, a group needs a long tank of around 210 liters or larger.

In the wild

Acantopsis dialuzona is widespread through Thailand and the Sunda Islands, living in flowing rivers and streams with clean sand and fine gravel beds. It favors cooler, well-oxygenated water, roughly 16 to 24 C, at a pH from about 6 to 7.5. The single most important feature of its tank is a deep bed of soft, fine sand, since the fish spends much of its life buried in it. Add smooth rocks and driftwood at the surface, keep the flow brisk and the water clean, and avoid sharp substrates that would damage its delicate snout and belly.

Good to know

Acantopsis dialuzona belongs to Cobitidae and reaches around 20 cm, with a slender, downward-pointing head and a long body built for burrowing into sand. Like other cobitids it has a small, erectile spine set below each eye. The name Acantopsis has long been applied to several similar, hard-to-separate loaches, so trade fish under this name may represent more than one species. Breeding is not recorded in home aquaria, and the fish for sale are wild caught.

Did you know

The horseface loach is a living sand filter: it takes in mouthfuls of substrate, sieves out edible morsels through its gills, and puffs the clean sand back out. Given fine sand to work, a group keeps the top layer of the bed constantly turned and aerated.

Related species

• 

  Weather Loach

  Misgurnus anguillicaudatus

  11 in (28 cm)55 gal (210 L)50–73°F (10–23°C)

• 

  Guntea loach

  Lepidocephalichthys guntea

  4.7 in (12 cm)24 gal (90 L)64–82°F (18–28°C)
• Eel kuhli loach

  Pangio anguillaris

  4.7 in (12 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Spined loach

  Cobitis taenia

  4.3 in (11 cm)32 gal (120 L)39–68°F (4–20°C)

• 

  Half-banded kuhli loach

  Pangio semicincta

  3.9 in (10 cm)28 gal (105 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  Kuhli loach

  Pangio kuhlii

  3.9 in (10 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)