Lamta garra

Care at a glance

Overview

The lamta garra is a cool-water bottom grazer best kept in a small group of three to five, where it patrols stone and wood scraping algae all day. It is mostly peaceful but can nudge and chase its own kind, so give it open floor and grazing surfaces to spread out. It suits a subtropical hillstream community with hardy danios and other cool-tolerant fish. It takes all sinking foods: algae wafers, pellets, and frozen items. A tank of around 110 liters with cool, moving water and plenty of rock keeps it in good condition.

In the wild

This garra grazes the clear foothill streams of the Himalayan drainages across northern India and eastern Nepal, over stony beds in cool, brisk current. Recreate that with strong flow, a substrate of sand, gravel, and cobbles, and smooth rocks to work. It prefers cooler water than most tropicals, 18 to 25 degrees Celsius, with a neutral to slightly alkaline pH from 6.5 to 7.8. Good oxygenation is important.

Good to know

Garra lamta belongs to the carp family, Cyprinidae, and was among the many fishes described by Francis Hamilton in his 1822 account of the Ganges fishes. It reaches around 12 centimeters and holds station against the current on the adhesive pad under its mouth. Lamta is its old hill-country vernacular name, carried straight into the scientific one. Its aquarium breeding is not documented.

Did you know

The word lamta is not Latin or Greek but a local hill name Hamilton wrote down two centuries ago, and along the same rivers people still call the fish lamta today.

Tank mates

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

• 

  Pool barb

  Puntius sophore

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–81°F (20–27°C)

• 

  Rakhine danio

  Devario xyrops

  Freshwater

  3.7 in (9.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Highlands rainbowfish

  Chilatherina campsi

  Freshwater

  3.4 in (8.6 cm)29 gal (110 L)70–81°F (21–27°C)
• Striped spined loach

  Cobitis striata

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)57–72°F (14–22°C)
• Tubercled flower loach

  Traccatichthys tuberculum

  Freshwater

  4.2 in (10.6 cm)29 gal (110 L)64–77°F (18–25°C)

• 

  Creek loach

  Schistura beavani

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)64–77°F (18–25°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• Tunga garra

  Garra bicornuta

  Freshwater

  4.7 in (12 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Redtail garra

  Garra panitvongi

  Freshwater

  5.1 in (13 cm)42 gal (160 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Ornate garra

  Garra ornata

  Freshwater

  4.3 in (11 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Congo garra

  Garra congoensis

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Kwai garra

  Garra fluviatilis

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Kerala garra

  Garra surendranathanii

  Freshwater

  5.9 in (15 cm)42 gal (160 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)