No bubble nest is built and several thousand eggs simply float at the surface with both male and female remaining to defend the eggs and fry.

The eggs hatch after 24-36 hours depending on temperature and the fry are free swimming in a further 24 hours. At this point they resemble 6-7 mm long black tadpoles.

It is important to constantly feed…

Known from various parts of the middle and upper Mekong river basins with record existing from the Nam Tha, Nam Ou, Nam Khan, Nam Lik, Nam Ngum and Nam Mang tributary systems in Laos, the Nam Noeua (a tributary of Nam Ou) in Vietnam, and the Mae Nam Kok in Thailand.

Occurrences in the Chao Phraya drainage in central Thailand most likely refer to the congener R. chiengmaiensis.

This species appears to exist in a number of different forms which exhibit differences in colour pattern, morphology, or both, and it’s currently unclear whether all of them are truly conspecific or not although those in the aquarium trade all appear similar to one another.

We’ve been unable to obtain a copy of the original description so it’s not currently possible to provide a detailed diagnosis either, with most recent studi…

This species appears to exist in a number of different forms which exhibit differences in colour pattern, morphology, or both, and it’s currently unclear whether all of them are truly conspecific or not although to avoid confusion we list all together here.

This species is a near-exclusive inhabitant of the upper water column and appreciates surface cover in the form of floating or overhanging vegetation.

Other décor is relatively unimportant but can consist of a sandy substrate with leaf litter plus some large driftwood branches and twisted roots.

Plants which can grow rooted in sand can al…

This species was considered a colour form of the closely-related B. imbellis and commonly-referred to as ‘black imbellis’ prior to description due to its blackish opercle and body.

It’s also previously been confused with B. splendens due to the colour of the vertical opercular bars which tend to be reddish (but may also be pale red, greenish-silvery, plain silvery or without colour in some populations), but DNA analysis has demonstrated it…

Type locality is ‘Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia’, but this species is widely-distributed throughout much of Southeast Asia including major river systems in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia plus the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java.

It’s been extensively recorded from the Mekong, Cha…

This species is likely to be traded for aquaria but probably misidentified as the very similar-looking K. cyrptopterus with which wild populations were formerly considered conspecific.

These two are closely-related and can be distinguished from congeners by the dorsal profile lacking a nuchal concavity (vs. possessing a nuchal concavity) and possessing short maxillary barbels (extending to the pectoral-fin base vs. ext…

Generally peaceful though it may predate on smaller fishes and is somewhat timid so does not compete well with much larger, robust or otherwise boisterous species.

Peaceful, comparably-sized cyprinids, loaches and other catfishes perhaps constitute the best options but be sure to research your choices thoroughly prior to purchase.

It’s been considered a synonym of Schistura caudofurca (Mai, 1978) by the majority of recent authors following Kottelat (2001) but this appears to be a case of misidentification since the two species exhibit several notable differences based on their respective descriptions (Endruweit, 2010).