Few new hillstreams

[Thomas]

get some new hillstreams yesterday. Gastromyzon viriosus, Hypergastromyzon humilis (?) and a loach labled as Balitora sp. “Spitzkopf” (pointed head)

Cheers,
Thomas

[Plaamoo]

Very nice finds Thomas! Did you get groups of these or were they individual contaminants? The top one looks like my “Vietnamese Butterfly Loach”.

[Thomas]

Hi Jim, small groups. 5 G. viriosus, 4 Balitora and 3 Hypergastromyzon. If they doing well I will add some more. The Gastromyzon and Hypergastromyzon are contaminants of a G. ctenocephalus shipment, but in bigger quantity, especially the Hypergastromyzon are numerous.

[Menu]

Very nice find Thomas!

In the last days many of them find their way to us.

Mostly G. viriosus and Hypergastromyzon humilis, the best time to find them are the winter months.

Hypergastromyzon are a little bit more demanding than the other Gastromyzon species.

Unfortunately I have seen very much of them dead in the wholesaler tanks.

 

 

[Thomas]

demanding in the water quality?

At least they feed.

[Plaamoo]

Unfortunately I’ve never seen g. viriosus or hypergastromyzon here:cry:. Also unfortunate is the lack of proper care of these types of fish in the shops. It seems that if I don’t buy them they just wither away. Mostly from lack of food, I think.

[Matt]

Great additions Thomas! What do you think the first one is?

Even spotted two Hypergastromyzon here last week. They were really tiny, can’t have been more than 0.5 cm long, so left them in the shop. The gastros they were in with were super small too.

Are they coming in at this size elsewhere as well?

[Menu]

Its a very sad story with the hillstreams in the dealer tanks.

They show no willingness to change anything.

Nobody cares, its very frustrating situation……

 

I think Hypergastromyzon is a bit more demanding in the water quality specifically the germ pressure.

They have a very small mouth so food must be finer, atemia shrimp are a good choice.

I have never seen so small ones Matt, the normal size is 2-3.5cm. 

Its interesting that they will not introduced in the U.S.

But where are the G. ocellatus and faragus, they are missing for jears here in Austria. 

 

 

[Thomas]

 

No Matt, but I’ve got a small article about this loach. Have to read it again. IIRC it was really a Balitora and no Annamia.

Menu, small mouth but red mosquito larvae seem to fit.

So you will recommend an UVC-clearer?

 

[Menu]

Of course all kind of hillstreams love small mosquito larvaes.

In my opinion a UVC-cleaner is never wrong for this types of fish.

[Matt]

What’s a UVC-cleaner guys?

[Rüdiger]

An accessory to the filter. The water passes through a tube containing a strong ultra violet light, which is supposed to kill all kind of nasties in the water i.e. bacteria and such. Not a very scientific explanation but that’s basically what it is. The “C” after UV denominating the band width of UV radiation.

[Matt]

Ah, a UV-filter. I did think that but presumed it would be detrimental to growth of algae and diatoms? Is this not the case for benthic types then?

[Menu]

Only stops the growth of suspended algae types. (Schwebealgen)

But highly recommended in any case.

[Jrp]

Very nice! Viriosus is one of my favorite hillstreams although I seldom see them. I have never seen Hypergastromyzon at all, but am always looking for them in shipments of gastros.

I agree the UV sterilizer is a good idea with such fish. I have them on two of my river tanks.

[Author]

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