Lizard Loach

About

Found scuttling across submerged boulders and cobble runs in the fast-moving hill streams of the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins, as well as the Malay Peninsula, Homalopteroides smithi is one of the better-known members of a group sometimes called lizard or gecko loaches. And once you watch one move, the nickname makes perfect sense. Like other balitorids, it has a flattened body, a depressed belly, and horizontally spread paired fins that together function as a powerful suction cup, letting the fish grip smooth rock faces against powerful currents. Rather than swimming freely, it crawls and hops from surface to surface in a way that really does call a small lizard to mind. In the wild, adults favor high-gradient rapids and bedrock runs, while younger fish tend to occupy slower, rootier stretches nearby. The diet is largely aquatic insect larvae, with dragonfly and damselfly larvae featuring prominently. In an aquarium it is peaceful, though its preference for current-swept, well-oxygenated conditions does narrow your tankmate options considerably. Similar hill stream species like Garra, Devario, Rhinogobius gobies, and nemacheilid loaches are worth exploring. Keep a group of six or more; this species lives in aggregations naturally and is noticeably bolder and more active when given company.