Botia sidthimunki (Dwarf Loaches) Sid and Mickey are Here!!!!

They are 3/4" long and FAST. They are eating their fill of pond snails and they are flying around all levels of the tank like little jet planes. They are some of the cutest little things I have ever seen. They are Botia sidthimunki, or Dwarf Loaches and I want to thank Carol for getting me introduced to the species. Since I continually had snails (pond snails) as a problem and did not want to tear down any more tanks or use chemicals to clear them up, she suggested I try these little fish.

Well I believe they are darlings and of course, they will be spoiled..

Of course, I have pictures...I do apologize for the quality..they move so FAST (picture #4 is actually their size)

Rose

 

Very cute. I'm hoping to get some after I get rid of my CAEs and my shark. I would use them instead of a clown loach.
Tom

 

cute little guys, must be a little larger than some of my baby oto's, I can imagine how small they are. Spoil them good.

atm

 

yes they are darling and stay relatively small, 2 inches I believe. Of course they will be so spoiled and your welcome Rose, you know my aversion to chemical solutions to problems. These will solve your snail problem and be very entertaining also
Carol

 

They are very cute Rose. You will really love them they arefun to watch..

Heidi

 

I'm intrested in how big they get I have read that they can reach sizes of up to 6 inches witch would not make them a dwarf at all. I have also red that they only reach a max size of 3 inches. My soure that they reach 6 inches seams to be good because I read it on loaches online. This web site seams to be reliable.

 

Their names have just recently been changed by the scientific community to Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki,They are still recognised as Botia sidthimunki. Their max size is 2.5 inches as stated by Loachesonline.com .
2.5 inches translates into about 6cm.
Carol

 

One place that sells them states the Maximum size at 2 inches and the other says 3 inches and the books that I own that list all the fish types and species says 4cm. I believe that Butterfly's estimate and source are accurate.





I now have 8 of the little guys and they are indeed fascinating to watch and take care of. My family members who do not especially like fish are even interested in these active and entertaining little guys.

Rose

 

So these fish are not a botia. Botia are fish with spikes under there eye right.

 

Actually if I'm not mistaken the botia refers to their rostral(snout) barbels. The last half of the clown loach name(macrantha) translates out to "thorn eye".
Carol

 

hmm I always thought botia were the loaches that had spikes under there eyes because eny botia I have had has had the spikes.