There is considerable confusion surrounding the identity of B. bagarius with its name having been widely applied to a relatively small species that is said to reach only 200 mm SL and considered to be common in northern India and much of Indochina.

This species is clearly unsuitable for the home aquarium given its eventual size and natural behaviour, and we know of only a handful of private aquarists with the facilities required to house it long-term.

The grouping currently contains four species but is in urgent need of review with a number of additional taxa thought to exist and B. yarrelli possibly representing a synonym of B. bagarius.

This species is also referred to as ‘giant’, ‘great’, ‘cobra’, or ‘Indian’ snakehead.

Although currently-considered to be distributed throughout much of southern Asia it is widely-accepted to represent a complex of related species in need of additional research.

A number of geographical variants exhibiting diffe…

Has been observed to inhabit vertical burrows around the margins of wetlands which typically become dry during winter months.

These burrows are most often around a metre dee…

According to Kottelat (2012) L. manipurensis Arunkumar, 2000, which was described from Moreh, Manipur state, northeastern India, close to the border with Myanmar, is a syonym of L. micropogon.

Havird and Page (2010) differentiate the two based on caudal-fin patterning, predorsal length and ver…

The identity of this fish is somewhat unclear although it’s available in the aquarium trade on an occasional basis.

It’s been considered to represent various species including Schistura beavani, S. montana and S. himachalensis but there exi…

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…

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.

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.