Striped spined loach

Cobitis striata

Also known as Japanese striped loach

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 57–72°F (14–22°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 3.9 in (10 cm)
Minimum tank: 29 gal (110 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Japan and Korea
Family: Cobitidae

Overview

This is a temperate loach, so keep it in an unheated tank with cool-water, peaceful company rather than tropical fish. It is social and calmer in a small group, and it forages by taking in mouthfuls of sand and sifting them through its gills, which makes a fine sand bed a genuine welfare need rather than decoration. When startled it dives straight into the sand and vanishes. Offer sinking foods, frozen bloodworm, and chopped earthworm, ideally toward dusk when it is most active. Give a group around 110 liters with deep sand and gentle flow.

In the wild

The striped spined loach lives in cool lowland streams, ditches, and rice paddies across Japan and Korea, over soft bottoms in slow water. It needs temperate conditions, not tropical heat: hold it at 14 to 22 degrees Celsius, with pH from 6.5 to 7.5 and a sand bed deep enough to bury in. Gentle current and a cool spell in winter mirror its natural rhythm. Avoid sharp gravel, which it cannot burrow into safely.

Good to know

Cobitis striata is a spined loach of the family Cobitidae, reaching about 10 centimeters, its rows of blotches often merging into the stripes that give it its name. It belongs to a complex of very similar Japanese loaches, and researchers have shown that several genetically distinct populations shelter under this one name. There is no established record of it breeding in home aquaria.

Did you know

In Japan, flooded rice paddies double as nurseries for spined loaches like this one. The same seasonal cycle of flooding that grows the rice crop also gives the loaches quiet, warm shallows in which to spawn and raise their young.