Gecko Loach

About

Found in shaded forest streams of Malaysia and Indonesia, Homalopteroides nebulosus is a small balitorid loach that rarely exceeds an inch and a half in length. Like its relatives, it has a flattened head and body, with paired fins spread horizontally to form a suction cup that locks it firmly onto rocks and other hard surfaces. The result is a fish that appears to crawl and hop across the substrate rather than swim through the water column, which is part of what gives members of this genus their informal nickname of gecko or lizard loaches. Patterning consists of a dark stripe along the lateral line, broken up by irregular brownish markings on the flanks and back. This species is poorly known in the hobby and may rarely, if ever, have been exported for the trade, so sourcing it could prove a challenge. In the wild it lives in groups, and keeping at least six together brings out more confident, active behavior and makes the social interactions between fish genuinely worth watching. Tankmates from similar environments work well, including small rheophilic cyprinids, stream gobies, and nemacheilid loaches, though the latter may occasionally squabble with them. No breeding accounts from aquaria exist yet.