Nilgiri loach

Schistura nilgiriensis

Also known as Nilgiri stone loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–75°F (18–24°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 2.4 in (6 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu, India
Family: Nemacheilidae

Overview

A coolwater stone loach for a temperate, well-oxygenated setup, best matched with hill-stream barbs and danios that share its need for current and oxygen. Keep a few together with a stony floor broken into territories, and they hold their patches without much fuss. It works the bottom near fast water, so provide brisk flow, rounded rock, and clean gravel. Feed small sinking foods, frozen bloodworm, and daphnia. A tank of around 75 liters or more, cool and current-swept, keeps a small group settled on the floor.

In the wild

The Nilgiri loach is endemic to cool plateau streams of the Nilgiri hills and nearby Western Ghats in southern India, often above a thousand meters, in fast water near rapids and small falls. Recreate that with a rocky, pebbly floor, strong flow, and high oxygen. Keep it cool, from 18 to 24 degrees Celsius, with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5. It is a fish of brisk, oxygen-rich hill water, so a cool river-tank layout suits it best.

Good to know

Schistura nilgiriensis reaches about 6 centimeters and was described by A. G. K. Menon in 1987. It is endemic to the Nilgiris and surrounding Western Ghats, part of a biodiversity hotspot where many hill fishes are confined to single plateaus or river systems. It belongs to the family Nemacheilidae, and its aquarium breeding has not been recorded.

Did you know

Nilgiri means blue mountains, and once every twelve years the kurinji shrubs of these hills bloom together and wash the slopes in violet-blue, high above the streams where this small loach lives.