Following Roberts (1997) G. ariza can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: body with variably intense thin stripes dustributed mostly above the lateral line; larger individuals sometimes with a broad midlateral stripe; 32-35 lateral scales; 7-8/1/5-6 transverse scale rows; 8-9 branched dorsal-fin rays 8-9; 22-24+ 11-12=34(4), 35 (3) vertebrae; live colour pattern variable, overall dull dirty white to greyish, silvery or yellow.

Type locality is ‘India: Mizoram: Muthi River, a tributary of Tuirial River in vicinity of Zemabawk, Aizawl, 23°44′ 54″ N 92°45’27” E’, and to date this species is known only from the Muthi system.

The Muthi is an affluent of the Tuirial River which is itself a tributary of the Barak watershed. The Barak is one of the great rivers of southern Assam and forms part of the Surma-Meghna River System.

Barilius spp. are near-exclusive surface-feeders preying mostly on flying insects in nature with some small fishes and benthic invertebrates probably taken as well but in the aquarium they’re largely unfussy and will accept most foods.

This species occasionally appears in the ornamental trade, usually as ‘striped hill trout’ or ‘banded hill trout’.

It can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: lateral line complete with 40-42 scales; barbels absent; 10-13 anal-fin rays; body with 9-11 dark blue vertical bars; last dorsal-fin ray extending to caudal-fin base.

Mostly known from slow-moving, relatively shallow tributaries and minor rivers with substrates of mud, sand or gravel. Aquatic plants are only occasionally present but riparian vegetation apparently grows thickly at some localities.

In the Schutunga River, part of the Mansai River drinage which is itself a tributary of the Brahmaputra in West Bengal state, In…

This fish has yet to appear in the aquatic trade and only been exported in extremely limited numbers to date. Specimens collected from the Wahumiam River close to the settlement of Shella Bholaganj by Peter Cottle and Andrew Rao in 2006 were initially considered an undescribed species and referred to as B. sp.'Wahumiam River' or B. sp. 'terracotta', but later found to match B. tuivaiei in terms of morphology, meristics, etc. (S. van der Voort, pers. comm.).

In the Barak River drainage, which flows through the north-east Indian states of Nagaland and Assam before bifurcating at the Bangladesh border, symaptric species include Barilius bakeri, B. barna, B. bendelisis, B. dogarsinghi, Laubuca laubuca, Esomus danricus, Devario aequipinnatus, D. annandalei, D. devario, Rasbora daniconius, R. rasbora,…

Following Grant (2007) this species is included in the B. dario complex of closely-related species within the genus alongside B. striata. They're characterised by body patterning consisting of a base yellow to golden colour with 7-9 blue, green, grey or black body bars usually with thinner, lighter bars between. In some individuals the…