Leconte's loach

Care at a glance

Overview

Leconte's loach is an active, social botiid that forages along the bottom among roots and rockwork. It takes a little experience to keep well.

Caring for the Leconte's loach

Keep Leconte's loaches in a group of at least five or six, and ten or more is better. They are social and hierarchical, and a proper group settles them down. Kept singly or in pairs they turn withdrawn or start bullying, and dominant fish can stress weaker ones off their food.

Give them a long tank of 53 gal (200 L) or larger, with soft sand or fine gravel and some current. Add shady caves and driftwood to hide in. They are active at dawn and at night and dislike bright light, so keep the lighting dim or add floating cover. Fit a tight lid, since they jump.

Hold the water at 75 to 82°F (24 to 28°C) with a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. They are intolerant of organic waste, so keep the water spotless with weekly changes of 30 to 50 percent. Newly imported stock is prone to botiid skinny disease, so quarantine fresh arrivals and watch them closely.

Leconte's loaches are boisterous and can be aggressive. Skip slow-moving or long-finned tank mates, and pair them instead with quick midwater cyprinids such as Devario, Rasbora and Danio. Move them in a container rather than scooping them out with a net. There are no documented breeding records from home aquariums.

Good to know

Yasuhikotakia lecontei is a botiid loach in the family Botiidae. It is strictly a freshwater fish, not a brackish one. Like other botiids it has a small spine below each eye that folds out and can catch in nets. The spine can also lift the skin of careless handlers.

In the wild

Leconte's loach comes from the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins of Southeast Asia, across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It lives in flowing, well-oxygenated stretches of river.

Common questions

Related species

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