The skunk loach, skunk botia or Hora's loach (''Yasuhikotakia morleti'';

syn. The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

''Botia morleti'', ''Botia horae'') is a species of botiid loach found in the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

basin in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

, as well as the

Chao Phraya The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. Et ...

and

Mae Klong The Mae Klong (, , ), sometimes spelled Mae Khlong or Meklong, is a river in western Thailand. The river begins at the confluence of the Khwae Noi (Khwae Sai Yok) and the Khwae Yai River (Khwae Si Sawat) in Kanchanaburi, it passes Ratchaburi ...

basins in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The maximum size is 10 cm (4 in) and it occurs in water with parameters 26 - 30 °C (79 to 86 °F) temperature, pH 6.0 to 8.0,

hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion (mechanical), abrasion. In general, different materials differ in their hardn ...

5.0 to 12.0. It feeds on live

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

s and other invertebrates. Despite being seen frequently in the aquarium trade, skunk loaches tend to be a naturally territorial fish, and will chase any (and all) other tankmates, regardless of size. Thus they may not suitable for community-style tanks, unless part of that community consists of a small school of skunk botia; a school can create a hierarchy amongst themselves and spread out their natural tension evenly. Smaller fish and bottom feeders in the tank can be pursued, attacked and/or killed. If not physically maimed, the stress of chasing is often enough to kill smaller peaceful fishes. Caution and observation as well as having 3 or more may prevent this. A minimum of 3 to 5 individuals would be optimal, if not seven or more. The minimum aquarium size for a group of skunk botia (in a community tank) should be at least 20 or 30 gallons, with bigger always being better when possible. Their naturally short body length of one to two inches makes this not impossible to achieve in smaller tanks, though. A two-year observation within an aquarium tank has revealed some unique interactions about this fish. The observed tank has had 10-15 (currently 15) of the skunk botia. The fish has not shown any aggression towards other fish in the tank, likely due to their substantial grouping together. fish in the tank include several different

tetra Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA; formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio), a European standard for a trunked radio system, is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by ...

species, including, at one time or another, bleeding-heart tetras, long-finned serpae tetras, black phantom tetras, and black neon tetras. There were also

swordtail ''Xiphophorus'' is a genus of euryhaline and freshwater fishes in the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes, native to Mexico and northern Central America. The many ''Xiphophorus'' species are all known as platyfish (or platies) and sw ...

Corydoras ''Corydoras'' is a genus of freshwater catfish in the family Callichthyidae and subfamily Corydoradinae. The species usually have more restricted areas of endemism than other callichthyids, but the area of distribution of the entire genus almos ...

catfish, male & female

betta ''Betta'' is a large genus of small, active, often colorful, freshwater ray-finned fishes, in the gourami family (Osphronemidae). The best known ''Betta'' species is ''B. splendens,'' commonly known as the Siamese fighting fish and often kep ...

, and

plecostomus Plecostomus, pleco, or plec is the common name of several species of freshwater loricariid catfish commonly sold as aquarium fish. These include: *'' Hypostomus plecostomus'' *'' Hypostomus punctatus'' *'' Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus'' *'' Pt ...

. At no time has the skunk loaches shown any aggression towards any of the other community fish. Observation has also shown that they tend to stay to their own species and have established a community at peace with each other. In the observation tank, small caves were created where they eventually started sharing space as a group. The skunk botia has yet to be bred in captivity. Skunk botia require a high-protein diet. Live foods are best. Frozen foods, such as bloodworms,

brine shrimp ''Artemia'' is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. It is the only genus in the family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of ''Artemia'' dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Urmia L ...

daphnia ''Daphnia'' is a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, in length. ''Daphnia'' are members of the order Anomopoda, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their saltatory swimming style resemb ...

krill Krill are small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word ', meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often attributed to species of fish. Krill are consid ...

, and tubifex worms are well liked. They do like an occasional flake food, as well as various crushed wafer foods. Their nose and body shape is naturally evolved to consume mollusks and crustaceans; all species of botia will readily hunt and consume any species of pond snail, baby crabs, or small shrimps (such as Amano shrimp Or

cherry shrimp ''Neocaridina davidi'' is a freshwater shrimp originating from eastern China and northern Taiwan and introduced in the rest of Taiwan, Japan, and Hawaii, which is commonly kept in aquaria. The natural coloration of the shrimp is green-brown ...

) that are present in their aquarium, provided it is small enough. This includes predatory and cannibalistic snails, such as the assassin snail. *

List of freshwater aquarium fish species A vast number of aquatic species have successfully adapted to live in the freshwater aquarium. This list gives some examples of the most common species found in home aquariums. Catfish Characins and other characiformes ...

References

* * * Riehl R, Baensch HA (1996) Aquarium Atlas. Vol 1. pg: 368. {{Taxonbar, from=Q427311 Botiidae Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1885 Taxa named by Gilbert Tirant