A. sinuata is currently considered a synonym of A. mooreh by most authorities.

This appears attributable to a lack of recent study since the two differ in distribution plu…

This species continues to be mislabelled as O. melastigma, a name currently considered invalid by the majority of recent workers, or O. javanicus, a valid but distinct taxon. Roberts (1998) demonstrated that MClelland’s description of Aplocheilus melastigmus, later renamed O. melastigma, does not correspond with any known Oryzias species from the Indian subcontinent or Myanmar since it’s said to have a dark spot in the dorsal-fin and an excessively slim body, among other anomalies.

This species may have appeared in the aquarium trade under the misapplied names Puntius arulius or P. tambraparniei in the past, both of which are also now classified within Dawkinsia. See the relevant profiles for D. arulius and D. tambraparniei for additional information regarding that confusion, since here we concentrate on D. rubrotinctus.

It was initially described by Jerdon in 1849 but placed in synonymy with P. arulius by Day (1878), where it remained for ov…

This species is available sporadically and makes an excellent choice for those new to keeping loaches. It’s distinguishable from congeners by a combination of characters including: truncate/rounded caudal-fin; no scales on top of head; dark, squarish spots o…

This species has a chaotic taxonomic history with certain issues still to be resolved. While the name P. mahecola was misapplied to members of the genus Dawkinsia for over a century the fish itself has been widely misidentified as the congener P. amphibius (Valenciennes 1842).

Its identity was partially resolved by Pethiyagoda and Kottelat (2005b) who demonstrated that though valid P. mahecola is not a Dawkinsia spp. but rather a smaller, relatively plain species with a single dark blotc…

This species is widely referred to and traded as the congener ‘Puntius‘ narayani (Hora, 1937). The precise identity of the latter is in doubt, however, plus P. setnai possesses a serrated dorsal-fin spine whereas ‘P.‘

It was formerly included in the Puntius conchonius ‘group’ of closely-related species alongside P. ater, P. bandula, P. conchonius, P. cumingii, P. erythromycter,…

This species is frequently confused with the congener D. aequipinnatus auct. but their identitities are in a state of confusion, particularly that of the latter. There are however a handful of characters which separate these two nominal species from one another.

D. malabaricus possesses a moderately deep body, 35-38 scales in the lateral se…

This species is also referred to as ‘Asian knifefish’ or ‘ghost knifefish’ in the aquarium trade in the aquarium trade but arguably has no place in the ornamental hobby given its adult size and specialised requirements.

It is sometimes confused with the African species Xenomystus nigri but is easily told apart by its larger adult size and presence (vs. absence) of a dorsal fin.

Confirmed localities include the Kabini, Bhadra and Moyar tributary systems where it was last collected in 1998, the 1980s and 1990-92, respectively.

The IUCN currently list it as Critically Endangered (possibly extinct).

Generally very peaceful making it an ideal resident of the well-researched community tank. As it places no special demands in terms of water chemistry it can be combined with many of the most popular fish in the hobby including other small cyprinids as well as tetras, livebearers, rainbowfishes, anabantoids, catfishes and loaches.

It’s a schooling species by nature, and at least 6-10 specimens should be purchased. Maintaining it in such…