Polka Dot Loach
(Botia Kubotai)
Alternate Names:
Burmese Border Loach
Marble Loach
Angelicus Loach

Geographic History

This fish is found in the Salween River basin in Myanmar and Thailand. They live in fast moving rivers and streams.

Enviornment

Polka Dot Loaches like sand or fin gravel substrate. You should provide lots of hiding spots and caves for them. Cover your filter intake so they don't try to hide inside. They especially love driftwood.

Compatibility

These are very social fish. They do very well with their own kind and other loaches. Alone they tend to be aggressive and bully smaller fish. Do not attempt to breed other types of fish in the same aquarium with these devious little guys, they absolutely love to eat fry.

Sexing

There is no external way to sex this fish.

Behavior

You should keep these social fish in groups of five or more to reduce aggressiveness. They will be shy when you first add them to your aquarium, but they will be more social as time goes on. With more hiding spots, they become more comfortable in the open. You have to give them someplace to run if they feel threatened.

These little guys are happy scavengers that love to clean the bottom of your aquarium. Any uneaten food or small clumps of algae will soon disappear if you have a good group of these fish.

As these Loaches age, their pattern will change. That is why their patterns vary from fish to fish. Grey dots continue to appear in their pattern as they grow.

Breeding

These fish are not suitable for breeding in a home aquarium. Fish that are not caught in the wild for sell have probably been spawned using horomone treatment.

For more information, go to Wikipedia's Polka Dot Loach page.