Rosy loach

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep a shoal of at least 8 to 10 in a tank of 54 litres or more at 20 to 26 C and pH 6.5 to 8.0. It is a micropredator, so feed small live and frozen foods like daphnia, moina, baby brine shrimp and microworm, plus finely crushed dry food. Peaceful and tiny, it pairs well with small rasboras, pygmy corydoras, shrimp and other nano fish, but larger or pushy tankmates will outcompete it at feeding time.

In the wild

One of the smallest true loaches, topping out around 3 cm. Wild fish live in warm, still or slow-moving water thick with plants, so a mature planted tank with gentle flow and plenty of cover suits them well. They spend much of the day foraging in loose shoals rather than hiding on the bottom like most loaches. Soft to moderately hard water is fine as long as it is clean and stable.

Good to know

It has been shuffled through several genus names, first sold as Yunnanilus sp. 'rosy' and as Tuberoschistura arakanensis before landing in Petruichthys, and it was formally described in 2023 as Physoschistura mango. It belongs to the stone loach family Nemacheilidae rather than the botia loaches most hobbyists picture.

Did you know

Males flush a deeper rose red and display to each other when kept in a good-sized group, which is when the fish looks its best.

Related species

• Cross loach

  Micronemacheilus cruciatus

  1.6 in (4 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Zodiac loach

  Mesonoemacheilus triangularis

  2.4 in (6 cm)24 gal (90 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Barred loach

  Nemacheilus fasciatus

  3.1 in (8 cm)24 gal (90 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Sumo loach

  Schistura balteata

  3.1 in (8 cm)24 gal (90 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)
• Zipper loach

  Paracanthocobitis botia

  3.9 in (10 cm)29 gal (110 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  Barred pencilfish

  Nannostomus espei

  1.2 in (3 cm)15 gal (55 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)