Mula-Mutha

Barilius bendelisis is a large, fast-swimming cyprinid from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and probably Bhutan. Occasionally sold as 'Indian hill trout' or 'Hamilton's baril', it has 8 to 12 bluish vertical bars and, in adults, a blue-black spot on each scale. It grows to around 200 mm SL and inhabits well-oxygenated, fast-flowing rivers and streams, and its speed and vigorous feeding make it unsuitable for the general community.

The dwarf snakehead, Channa gachua, is a snakehead recorded across an enormous range from Iran to Taiwan and Bali. There is significant evidence that C. gachua as currently understood is a complex of similar-looking species in need of taxonomic review. A mouthbrooder bred regularly in captivity, it can share a well-chosen community with peaceful fishes too large to be prey, but populations should not be mixed as some may hybridise.

Nemacheilus anguilla is a loach endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India, recorded from rivers in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Dark flank markings merged into a lateral stripe separate it from other Indian congeners, and its generic placement requires further study. It inhabits well-oxygenated, moderate to fast-flowing rivers over gravel and boulders, and is peaceful with its own kind, best kept in a group of four or more.

Paracanthocobitis mooreh is a nemacheilid loach known only from the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri (Cauvery) systems in western and southern India. An incomplete lateral line ending near the pelvic-fin origin, with small, mostly vertical blotches along it connected to the dorsal saddles, separates it from congeners. It favours stretches of streams and small rivers where leaf litter collects over sand, cobbles and boulders, and is generally non-aggressive.

The goonch, Bagarius yarrelli, is a very large sisorid catfish recorded from the Indus in Pakistan east through Indochina to Sumatra and Borneo. Also known as the 'giant devil catfish' and 'sand shark', it reaches 1300 to 2000 mm and is fished for food across much of its range. That wide distribution appears doubtful, and Indian and Southeast Asian populations may prove not to be conspecific. It lives among boulders in the fast, turbulent rapids of large rivers.

Garra mullya is a cyprinid endemic to and widespread within peninsular India, in rivers including the Tapti, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. It has been recorded from flowing headwater streams to low altitude main river channels, including polluted stretches, and at least some populations migrate upstream to breed. Wild fish feed on algae, diatoms and organic detritus.