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OK here's my problem. I just got back from my LFS with a few new plants and a Pleco for my 29 gal. The Pleco they sold me was listed as a Butterfly Pleco. I did some research on the web and found that I did not get a Butterfly Pleco, and I can't find a picture of the Pleco I bought. I don't have a camera right now so I can't take a picture for you, but I will try to describe it as accuratly as possible.

He is about 2 inches in length with a cream colored body and dark leopard-like spots. He has two sections of "wings"(as my LFS described them) that run almost the length of his body. When he is sucked to the glass he has a stingray shape, with the wings flat to the glass.

I really hope you all can help, I hate not knowing what I have in my tank. Thanks to all that offer any comments.

Is is a hillstream loach?
From the way you described
the "wings" flat against the
tank glass thats what it
sounded like.

Here is a pic of a hillstream
loach.

hope this helps

Well, my pic didnt show.

here is the link
http://www.azgardens.com/images/Loach-ChinaButterfly.gif

Dead on it RNJ_Punk thanks for the help. Anyway he's a cool little guy, at the moment having his way with the algae on the driftwood.

If anyone has a hillstream loach let me know what you think of them. Are they similar to Plecos, can you feed them blanched veggies or do they prefer wafers.

Chinese hillstream loaches will eat algae but they are also micropredators, they dont live in the same habitat as plecs. They do need a little animal protien in the diet, and will probably accept decapsulated brineshrimp cysts, a little fish fry food etc, as well as skimming stones and accepting the odd algae wafer. They will graze stuff like cucumber and blanched lettuce, but what they really want is small microrganisms,and certain bacteria and non-harmful protozoa etc, so the odd batch of infusoria will do them good. They come from streams and rivers with a higher flow, so must have higher oxygenation, they also dont like it too hot, preferably less than 75f. They also wont be as forgiving about high nitrates as most plecs.

The shop I work in sells chinese hillstream loaches as butterfly plecs, which is of course completely wrong, and i'm getting it changed, but its a corporate structure thing, and change in the corporate world is slow when it has nothing to do with money unfortunately.

Keep em cool, clean, in nice bubbly water, and make sure they get some nice diet variety and they should do well.

I just love corporate structue. We sell something that isn't what we say it is but we can't just go making it accurate... Why the heck not? lol

Because, so i'm told , managers don't need to know anything about animal care to manage animals. Yet they can still stop the little guy from doing the right thing.

Which is about on par with handling an atom bomb and knowing nothing about nuclear physics.
People are thick, and more people are thicker, and beurocracies are thicker still.Most corporations would be beaurocracies with shareholders, which as far as I can tell would put satan himself off dealing with them. What can I say?

Managers are the first people to get where they are by stepping on people rather than any degree of excellence. Hence the problem. In my case the managers manage garden plants not fish,and what species goes with what name is probably decided therefore by a secretary somewhere. But I would still have to argue to get anything done.

Failing that what you find is there selection processes for species are chosen by an "expert" who at closer inspection either turns out to be a vet who deals exclusively with small mammals and hasnt seen a fish in 12 years, or the bosses son's best friend on work experience who happens to be 13 years old, or the boss himself, who had a goldfish once, and read a book 16 pages thick published by TFH in the 70's.

My company is afraid of water changes though. Nothing surprises me. The conversation went like this.

"Can I do some water changes?"

"no, people here know what theyre doing"

" your system nitrate is 250 ppm"

"what does that mean"

" It means if you dont let me do the water changes i'll call the regional head of RSPCA who happens to have been an ex-work colleage and have him tell you to do it as part of getting your licence to carry livestock back sometime in the next two years"

"oh, ok then."


Bloody people.

Go figure.

Hillstreams are specialized fish and generally don't live so long in normal tanks. Especially the really flat ones. They prefer very very fast running water. As in enough current you can feel the water moving if you stick your fingers in there. Mine would sit on the output of a 600gph powerhead in their 20g long tank. Loaches.com has a special section devoted to them including this article: http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane

If you want to keep the little guy alive for as long as possible increase the water movement to as much as your other fish will tolerate, add an airstone especially if you can't increase the turnover rate enough, and start cultivating algae. You can easily grow algae by sticking some rocks or a small piece of driftwood in a clear container of tank water(jar works well) and set it in front of a window. These guys live mostly on the little critters they sift out of the algae and will eat minimal amounts of processed foods. The only hillstreams I had any luck feeding on processed foods were a homaloptera species and they would only eat a certain brand of sinking spirulina pellet.

Which is about on par with handling an atom bomb and knowing nothing about nuclear physics.

Though to be fair - it's much more useful to have a forklift license than a working knowledge of nuclear physics if you're moving a bomb about. Apparently they're flipping heavy



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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

Thanks for all the help everyone, what would I do without you.

Just an update, Sham I took your advice and used my other 29 gal tank to set up a river enviroment for my little guy. I already had a few smooth river stones with a little algae growth on them, so I moved them to the new tank with him. He does seem to enjoy the current as I've recently seen him gliding from one stone to the other.

Next trip to the LFS I'm going to pick up the other Hillstream Loach they had to give mine a tank mate.

Of all the websites I've been a part of, the people of FP have always been the most friendly and I am always amazed at the experience and knowledge each of you offers.
Thanks again for all of your help.