This species is feisty and largely unsuitable for the general community aquarium. This is not to say it must be kept alone, rather that tankmates must be selected with care and proper research.

Slow-moving or long-finned species should certainly be omitted because they’re likely to struggle with the necessary level of water movement and may end up with nipped fins.

This species has been widely regarded as a member of the genus Nemacheilus since the late 1970s with the vast majority of subsequent authors considering it as such, although in the aquarium hobby it’s more commonly referred to Schistura.

Type locality is given as ‘Babianjiang River, 24°20’N, 100°10’E, Jingdong County, Yunnan Province, China’. The Babianjiang joins the Mengyejiang River to form the Langmajiang River, a tributary of the Lixianjiang (Black River) within the Red River basin.

This species is quite uncommon in the aquarium hobby although its name is sometimes used in reference to the similar-looking, apparently undescribed congener S. cf. balteata, and both are also traded as ‘sumo loach’, ‘tri-banded sumo loach’, and ‘orange saddle-back loach’.

Following Kottelat (1990) it’s diagnosed by the following combination of characters: unique colour pattern consisting of two da…

This fish has been widely misidentified and sold as the congener P. tiantian and its vernacular name of ‘Burmese bumble-bee barb’ but actually appears to be an undescribed member of the genus Pethia.

This assemblage was erected by Pethiy…

Probably a micropredator feeding on small insects, worms, crustaceans and other zooplankton in nature. In the aquarium it should accept dried foods of a suitable size but should not be fed these exclusively.

Daily meals of small live and frozen fare such as Daphnia, Artemia, Moina, etc., along with good quality flakes and granules will result in the best colouration and encourage the fish to come into breeding condition.

This species is traded for aquaria under various names including ‘butterfly barb’, ‘mackerel barb’, ‘green-barred danio’, and ‘royal opsarius’.

It can be told apart from other memb…

Type locality is ‘Mé-Nam River, Thailand’, with ‘Mé-Nam’ having been considered an older name for the Chao Phraya river in central and western Thailand prior to this species’ redescription by Tejavej (2012).

In fact ‘menam’ is the Thai word for ‘river’ and thus could refer to any drainage, and B. ornatus is restricted to…

Inhabits well-oxygenated, low-to-medium gradient, slow to moderate-flowing rivers and streams with substrates of gravel, cobbles, larger boulders and exposed bedrock. At the habitat in our image pH was 7.5, temperature 26°C and cond…

This species is traded very occasionally, sometimes under the alternative vernacular names of ‘river baril, ‘river carp-baril’, or ‘striated hill trout’.

It can be told apart from congeners by the following combination of characters: 1 pair of minute rostra…