Spottail loach

Yasuhikotakia caudipunctata

Also known as Spot-tailed botia

FreshwaterFish

Spottail loach (Yasuhikotakia caudipunctata) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Minimum tank: 37 gal (140 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Shoaling
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Mekong basin, Laos and Thailand
Family: Botiidae

Overview

The spottail loach is a small, restless shoaling botiid best kept in a group of five or more, which keeps its lively pecking order contained rather than aimed at one victim. It spends its time on and just above the bottom, sifting sand and exploring cover. Feed sinking pellets, wafers, frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp, and offer small snails, which it relishes. Choose robust, quick tankmates and avoid slow or delicate long-finned fish. Provide plenty of caves and a tight lid, since these loaches wedge into gaps and will jump. A mature, well-oxygenated tank of about 140 liters or more suits a shoal.

In the wild

The spottail loach lives in the Mekong mainstream and its tributaries in Laos and Thailand, moving with the seasons between river and flooded margins. Give it a sandy floor, rounded rock and driftwood for shelter, and moderate, oxygen-rich flow, leaving no sharp-edged decor it could injure itself on. It is a warm-water fish at 23 to 28 degrees Celsius and does well from pH 6.0 to 7.5. Like all botiids it needs a biologically mature tank and clean, stable water.

Good to know

Yasuhikotakia caudipunctata grows to about 11 centimeters, and its name means spotted tail, for the dark speckling across the caudal fin that separates it from plainer-tailed relatives. The genus Yasuhikotakia honors the Japanese ichthyologist Yasuhiko Taki, whose 1970s work on Mekong loaches still shapes their classification. It is a botiid, and no aquarium spawning has been recorded.

Did you know

Botiids like this one perform a so-called loachy dance, when a whole group suddenly swims restless laps around the tank, often set off by feeding, a water change or new arrivals.

Tank mates

Spottail loach is a mostly peaceful, shoaling species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.