Redfin tiger loach

Care at a glance

Overview

The redfin tiger loach is a large, barred botiid with reddish fins and a lively temper, so it is best kept in a group of five or more to keep its energy focused within the shoal. It patrols the bottom, digging through sand and probing rockwork for food, and it makes short work of pest snails. It is mostly peaceful but boisterous and can be nippy, so choose sturdy, fast midwater tankmates rather than timid ones. Feed sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and the occasional vegetable. Because it grows large and active, a group needs a long tank of around 190 liters or larger with plenty of retreats.

In the wild

Syncrossus berdmorei is native to Myanmar, chiefly the Irrawaddy and Sittang basins, where it lives in flowing rivers and streams over sand and gravel. The water is warm at 21 to 26 C and slightly acidic to neutral, about pH 6 to 7.5. Recreate its home with a soft sand bed it can sift and dig, smooth stones and driftwood arranged into caves, and strong, oxygen-rich flow. Clean, well-filtered water and numerous shaded hiding spots help settle this active loach and give each fish somewhere to retreat between feeding forays.

Good to know

Syncrossus berdmorei is a botiid loach reaching about 24 cm, with a pale, boldly barred body and the reddish fins that give it its common name. Like all members of Botiidae it has a bifid, erectile spine tucked below each eye that flicks out in defense and can snag in a net. It is a scatter-spawning, migratory breeder in the wild, and there is no established record of it spawning in home aquaria, so the fish offered for sale are collected from the wild.

Did you know

The redfin tiger loach was named in honor of Major Berdmore, a nineteenth-century collector in Burma, and its scientific name berdmorei still carries his name. Its bold bars and orange-red fins make it one of the more colorful of the tiger loaches.

Related species

• 

  Green tiger loach

  Syncrossus hymenophysa

  8.3 in (21 cm)40 gal (150 L)77–86°F (25–30°C)

• 

  Banded tiger loach

  Syncrossus helodes

  11.8 in (30 cm)75 gal (285 L)75–86°F (24–30°C)

• 

  Chameleon loach

  Syncrossus beauforti

  9.8 in (25 cm)106 gal (400 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Redtail loach

  Yasuhikotakia modesta

  9.8 in (25 cm)75 gal (285 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Clown loach

  Chromobotia macracanthus

  11.8 in (30 cm)75 gal (285 L)75–86°F (24–30°C)

• 

  Polka-Dot Loach

  Botia kubotai

  5.9 in (15 cm)42 gal (160 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)