Type locality is given as ‘Lake Meninju, Sumatra, Indonesia’, currently known as Danau (lake) Maninjau, but conceivably the fish may have been obtained from the outflowing Antokan river rather on its western side than the lake itself.

An obligate dweller of swiftly-flowing streams and headwaters containing clear, oxygen-saturated water. It often inhabits riffles and runs and is likely to display a preference for shallower zon…

Type locality is ‘Streamlets near Tangla, Darrang District, Assam, India’, but records also exist from the Mahananda River in West Bengal state and other tributaries of the lower Brahmaputra river system, some of which originate in Bhutan.

Further upstream it’s been recorded in the Kalmoni riv…

Type locality is ‘Tenasserim, Myanmar’ which at time of description was used to refer to the portion of Myanmar lying to the south and east of the Ayeyarwaddy/Irrawaddy river delta, including present-day Kayah, Kayin, and Mon states, Bago Division, and possibly the southern Tanintharyi Region.

Blyth’s description paper covered fishes collected from the Sittaung River (plus a few Gangetic species) in what is currently Bago Division, but we’ve been unable to locate any modern records of D. affinis fro…

Type locality is given as ‘Jiucheng, Yunnan Province, China’ which could refer to one of several places with the same name in southwestern Yunnan.

It’s also been collected in Tengchong and Lianghe districts, Yingjiang county, and all known localities are within the Daying river (Dayingjiang) watershed, a major tributary of the larger Irrawaddy/Ayeyarwady river syst…

Endemic to a handful of tributary streams within the upper Chao Phraya river system in northern Thailand. Six populations are known to date, with the majority lying inside the Doi Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary.

Some of its habitats are under threat by over-grazing, deforestation, deliberate forest fires, and collection for the aquarium trade.

Appears restricted to highly-oxygenated, fast-flowing riffles of small-to-medium sized streams. These typically contain clear water with substrates of gravel, rocks, boulders, and bedrock with no aquatic plants.

Fishes which inhabit similar biotopes in nature constitute the best options, especially peaceful, open water-dwelling cyprinids since the presence of one or two schools can make a visible difference to the confidence of this naturally reclusive loach.

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.

Like many fishes that naturally inhabit running waters it’s intolerant to the accumulation of organic wastes and requires spotless water at all times in order to thrive. It also does best if there is a high proportion of dissolved oxygen and moderate degree of water movement so external filters, powerheads, airstones, etc., should be employed as necessary.