Ribbon hillstream loach

Erromyzon kalotaenia

Also known as Beautiful-stripe hillstream loach, Chinese red spotted sucker loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–75°F (18–24°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 2.3 in (5.8 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Guijiang drainage, Guangxi, China
Family: Gastromyzontidae

Overview

A small, fine-boned hillstream loach with a peaceful nature, best kept in a group of five or six with equally gentle company. It tends to work the crevices and edges between stones rather than open rock faces, so build a layout with plenty of nooks. It grazes biofilm and takes the smallest sinking foods, so mature the tank first and offer finely crushed wafers and micro sinking pellets. Keep it only with small, calm, current-tolerant fish that will not out-muscle it at feeding time. A tank of around 75 liters with steady cool flow and a broken rocky floor suits a small group.

In the wild

Erromyzon kalotaenia is known from streams of the Guijiang drainage in Guangxi, southern China, cool clear water running fast over rock. Keep it at 18 to 24 C with strong, oxygen-rich flow and plenty of surface movement. Give it smooth stones with biofilm, a fine gravel and sand base, and hold pH between 6.5 and 7.5.

Good to know

Erromyzon kalotaenia is a small hillstream loach in the family Gastromyzontidae, reaching about 5.8 centimeters. It was described by Yang and colleagues in 2012 from a mountain drainage in Guangxi, and the name comes from Greek roots meaning beautiful stripe, for the clean dark marking along its slender body. Its breeding is undocumented.

Did you know

Its entire known range is a pair of mountain streams in Guangxi, and it is a recent find: it was new to science in 2012, described alongside a whole new loach genus from the same survey.

Tank mates

Ribbon hillstream loach is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.