Yangtze

The Chinese false gudgeon, Abbottina rivularis, is a small bottom-dwelling cyprinid native to China, the Korean peninsula and southern Japan. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, including the Mekong and Salween basins, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, and is considered invasive. It has started to appear in the aquarium trade and should never be released into natural waters outside its native range.

The giant Chinese bitterling, Acheilognathus macropterus, is a bitterling from China, the Korean peninsula, northern Vietnam and southeastern Russia. It has been introduced to Japan and is considered invasive there. Typical adults are 100 to 150 mm, and it appears in the trade only irregularly. Like all bitterlings it spawns in living unionid mussels, and its wide range suggests it may be a group of closely-related species.

Beaufortia szechuanensis is a hillstream loach from the upper Yangtze River basin in Sichuan province, southwestern China. It has been recorded from several tributary systems including the Qing, Wu and Da Ning He. Its flattened head and body and horizontal paired fins form a sucking cup that lets it cling to rocks in shallow, fast-flowing, highly-oxygenated headwaters.

The Chinese snakehead, Channa asiatica, is a snakehead native to central and southern China and northern Vietnam. One of several Channa lacking pelvic fins, it is told apart from them by vertical black bars on a brownish body and numerous white spots on the body and fins. It is best kept in a species tank. Pairs build no bubble nest, and both parents defend several thousand floating eggs and the fry.

Jinshaia sinensis is a balitorid loach known only from the Jinsha river basin, the westernmost headwater tributary of the Yangtze in China. Like other balitorids it has a flattened head and body and horizontally extended paired fins that form a powerful sucking cup. It lives only in riffles, runs and cascades of swift, clear, oxygen-saturated water, and the aquarium must be set up to resemble such a habitat.

The imperial flower loach, Leptobotia elongata, is a large botiid loach native to the middle and upper Yangtze River in China. Growing to 400 to 500 mm SL, it has declined drastically in the wild through damming, pollution and habitat degradation, and it is rare in the aquarium trade and prohibitively expensive when available. Also known as the 'royal clown' loach, a name since applied to the smaller L. pellegrini, it is a species for the specialist able to house it long term.

Leptobotia guilinensis is a botiid loach from southern China, described from Guangxi Province and also recorded from neighbouring Hunan. The species is rarely exported for the aquarium hobby, and fish labelled as such are usually Sinibotia pulchra or other related species. In the formal description Chen states that it is closely related to the fish now called Sinibotia zebra but lacks stripes on the head. Its habitat is unconfirmed but presumably clear, well-oxygenated running water over rocks and gravel.

Leptobotia microphthalma is a botiid loach from the upper Yangtze basin in southwestern China, known from the Min and Jialing rivers. Its near-vestigial eyes and the variable hypopigmentation seen in many individuals suggest a deep water or even subterranean existence. Poorly known in the hobby, it is superficially similar to L. tientainensis and differs in a more deeply forked caudal-fin and a smaller eye, although eye size varies considerably between individuals.

Leptobotia pellegrini is a botiid loach from southern China, described from Sichuan province and also known from the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) basin. Often traded as 'royal clown loach', a name also applied to L. elongata, it differs from that species chiefly in adult size, reaching around 200 mm SL against 500 mm. It is also more slender with a darker head, and its relatively wide distribution probably explains why it is commoner in the hobby.

Leptobotia rubrilabris is a riverine botiid loach native to the middle and upper Yangtze River in China, with most records from Sichuan and Hunan. Fish labelled as this species in the trade are typically Sinibotia pulchra or other related species. In nature it favours clear, well-oxygenated running water over rocks and gravel, from boulder-filled headwater streams to larger, turbid river channels, and much of the Yangtze has been degraded by dam construction and pollution.

Leptobotia taeniops is a botiid loach native to the middle and upper Yangtze River in China, recorded mostly from Hunan including Dongting Lake. Poorly known in the hobby, it is available occasionally and normally traded as 'honeycomb loach'. It exists in a number of colour forms from plain to reticulated and brown to pink, with reticulated populations towards the eastern end of its range, and it was previously included in the related genus Parabotia.

The paradise fish, Macropodus opercularis, is a labyrinth fish from China south of the Yangtze, including Taiwan and Hainan, plus Vietnam and Laos. Imported to France in 1869, it was among the very first ornamental fish brought to Europe. Wild examples are uncommon in the hobby since it is farmed extensively, and xanthic, albino, red, blue and stripeless strains exist. Males are territorially aggressive, especially when breeding, and should not be housed together unless the aquarium is very large.

The large-scaled loach, Misgurnus dabryanus, is a 'true' loach from the Yangtze and Pearl rivers in China, plus Taiwan and the Amur in Russia. It is sold regularly in the hobby but almost always labelled as or mixed in with M. anguillicaudatus, from which it differs in its high adipose crests on the caudal peduncle and the lack of a dark spot at the caudal-fin base. It spends some of its time completely buried, so it needs a soft, sandy substrate.

Parabotia bimaculata is a riverine botiid loach from the upper Yangtze basin in Sichuan, southwest China, described from the Laixi River at Luxian. It looks similar to P. fasciata but has two dark markings at the caudal-fin base (vs. one) and 12-15 dark bars on the body. Like other Parabotia it favours clear, well-oxygenated running water over rocks and gravel, and needs spotless water in the aquarium.

Rhinogobius giurinus is a goby found through much of China, plus Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and the Red and Pha river basins in Vietnam. It appears to exist in a number of forms that differ in colour pattern, morphology or both, and it is unclear whether all of them are conspecific. Newly-imported wild fish tend to be aggressive towards conspecifics, so unlike most Rhinogobius it is best kept in sexed pairs.

Sinibotia reevesae is a botiid loach described from the middle Yangtze in Luxian County, Sichuan Province, and still known only from that area. It is apparently rare in nature and seldom seen in the trade, arriving occasionally as bycatch in shipments of S. pulchra or S. robusta. It has 7-8 dark vertical bars, and the head lacks the brown vermiform markings of S. pulchra.

Sinibotia superciliaris is a botiid loach from the middle Yangtze River drainage in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, western China. It is rarely seen in the trade, with exports sporadic. It looks very similar to S. pulchra but lacks the brownish markings and spots on the side of the head, and in the wild it was collected from swiftly-flowing stretches with rocky substrates.

The northern snakehead, Channa argus, is a large snakehead native to eastern China, southeastern Russia and the Korean peninsula. Growing to 850 mm, it is largely unsuitable for the home aquarium given its size and natural behaviour. Introduced populations, first intended for aquaculture, are now established in Japan, the United States, central Asia and parts of eastern Europe.

The Chinese sailfin sucker, Myxocyprinus asiaticus, is a catostomid endemic to the upper and middle Yangtze River system in China, including the Min. The only Asian member of its family, it is traded as juveniles under names such as 'Chinese banded shark', almost always without mention of an adult size of almost a metre or a lifespan of 25 years or more. Wild populations are threatened by dams, pollution, overfishing and introduced species.

Acrossocheilus monticola is a barred cyprinid that is apparently endemic to the upper Yangtze River basin in China. It alone in the genus has seven or eight dark vertical bars on each flank, each one to three scales wide. The type locality is a mountain stream flowing into the Ichang gorge, and wild fish feed on small benthic invertebrates and graze biofilm from rocks and other solid surfaces.

The blotched snakehead, Channa maculata, is a snakehead from coastal drainages of southeastern China, including Hong Kong, and northern Vietnam. It is frequently confused with C. argus but has fewer fin rays and lateral line scales and carries 2-3 rounded blotches on the caudal peduncle. An important food fish, it has become established in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Madagascar and Hawaii, and hybrids with C. argus appear to be quite common in aquaculture.

Garra imberba is a cyprinid without barbels from the upper Yangtze, Mekong and Red River basins in southern China, and the upper Red in Vietnam. Records from the Salween system result from confusion with the similarly-named G. imberbis. With G. micropulvinus it is placed in the Semilabeoina, for which the name Ageneiogarra has been suggested. It tends to inhabit swiftly-flowing headwaters and tributaries.

Hemibagrus macropterus is a bagrid catfish from the Zhujiang (Pearl River), Changjiang (Yangtze) and Qiantang Jiang in central and southern China. It inhabits swiftly-flowing rivers and tributaries with rocky substrates and grows to 408 mm SL. Virtually unknown in the aquarium trade, it is fished for food, and dam construction and pollution have affected it in parts of its range, where it may be locally extirpated.

The barbel steed, Hemibarbus labeo, is a cyprinid widespread in eastern Asia between the Yangtze and Amur river basins. A predominantly riverine fish of clear, well-oxygenated running water, it forms schools just above the substrate as an adult, and some populations make annual spawning migrations. Adults lack dark spots on the body and have a long snout and well-developed lips.

The spotted steed, Hemibarbus maculatus, is a cyprinid widespread in eastern Asia between the Yangtze and Amur basins, including Taiwan and Hainan. It has 7–11 large blackish spots on each flank and a deep body with a clearly convex dorsal profile. A riverine fish of clear, well-oxygenated running water, it breeds in May and June, depositing its eggs among aquatic vegetation. It has probably been introduced to Vietnam and Laos, or records from there represent another species.