Algae eater... exotic tiny...

[toustous]

So I don't have a lot to go on.... I was at a Big Al's in Whitby, and they have a lovely shimp display tank, heavily planted with 15 or so different varieties of shrimp, and small algae eaters...

They could not ID them nor did they have them for sale. Apparently the display tank predates any of the current employees.

They were a small lithe algae eater, seemed to do its job well, with a "sucker" larger then their head a bit. They had an unusual fin configuration, rounder fins with a 2 sets down the length of them.

They were an 1 to 1.5 inch tops.

They were kind the standard "algae eater" brown, but they had some blue in their finds just a bit, but that may have been the light.

Not regular otos for sure. Not sure what they were. They looked Shrimp safe.

The round fins and very narrow body (even compared to other algae eaters) were prolly the most distinct feature.

 

[Anders247]

Sounds kind of like a hillstream loach.

 

[TexasDomer]

Can you take a pic next time you go?

 

[hampalong]

They sound more like a Garra to me, maybe Garra rufa?

 

[toustous]

Nope I have a hillstream (which I love), but this fellah is narrow and skinny, not flat and... flat...

Not Garra; these were skinnier(thier bodies were uniformly thick most of the length of them, they didnt have the arched dorsal section) and had rounder fins, like near perfect circles.

Yea I will try for a pic, I just don't know when I'll be back, its a bit out of town for me.

 

[Plecomaker]

there are several otto types, might look thru them first. I'm a fan of batmani, cuz batman right?

 

[hampalong]

They might be emaciated? Some shops think "algae eaters" don't need to be fed. And "show tanks" often get overlooked...

 

[toustous]

All Otos I've seen have that arched back and pointed face; this had neither. I tried looking through different types; I didn't see anything similar.

Emaciated; I don't think so they looked happy and healthy and I could see algae pellets of some kind in the being eaten by amannos. There were 3-4 of them and there was no deviation between them.

I've been searching around for a few hours now at work, yet to find anything similar. They were neat.. I could prolly draw one pretty close maybe I'll to that later.

 

[toustous]

My incredibly talented artist rendition lol.... sucker should be bigger but /pretty much.

Snapp... just showed pic to friend at work and he was like "The looks like a goby" and I'm like hun your right... so I google fresh water algae eating goby.... found these guys... think I'm getting closer....

 

[Coradee]

Chinese algae eater?

 

[toustous]

Found him, 99% sure. The picture isn't doing them credit, they were a really neat little fish. They don't seem to make it here much, shame. I'll have to keep my eyes open.