Stingray Pleco, Butterfly Loach, what the heck is it???

[beviking]

At the lfs today and they had these sting-ray looking freshwater fish in with some pleco's and said they were "sting-ray plecostomus". I thought I had seen them online called a butterfly loach. It was only an inch and a half to two inches long and stuck on the glass, mottled color, and as stated, looked like a ray. Can someone tell me what this thing is?? Thanks!

 

[GEV83]

Its a loach.

 

[ChilDawg]

Actually, I think that it's a fringe loach from the family Balitoridae. They are definitely not plecos nor true loaches, but they go by all sorts of names reminiscient of Plecs and Loaches.

 

[superstein61]

These are frequently called various names - Hillstream Loach is the most common name - also called Butterfly pleco's, hong kong pleco's or who knows what other names LFS make up.

they are loaches (as Childawg noted the family Balitoridae) and are very peaceful. they are not pleco's - however, they feed a lot like a pleco eating encrusting algae. Mine is forever on the glass of my tank sucking up waht it can find.

They stay small - no bigger than 2 inches. the biggest challenge is they prefer cool water, well oxygenated, well lit tanks. Their preferred temp range is 64 to 76 degrees F. I keep mine right now in my community 72 gallon which I keep at 76 degrees - and it has done well.

I don't have any real good pics - as it is always on the tank walls - but here are 2 shots just to make sure we are talking about the same fish

 

[beviking]

Yes Yes Yes!!! That's it!! Thank's guys/gals!
So superstein61, it keeps your glass clean?? This may be what I'm looking for. I keep my tank at 74 degrees. I'll have to search a little harder for info on Balitoridae, then go get one.

 

[ChilDawg]

I believe that there's a lot of Balitorid info in AC Profiles:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&Family=Balitoridae&view_records=1

 

[superstein61]

Yea, between it and my Bristlenose Pleco - they keep my glass very clean except for a few occassional occurances of the hard green spot algae which no one seems to dine on

 

[VoodooChild]

Pseudogastromyzon myersi last time I checked. They're great for eating algae off of plants.

 

[beviking]

WTF! I searched the AC profiles and couldn't find them. I gotta lay off the glue sniffing! j/k

Thanks again!!

 

[cpr4cpu]

I have heard the Pseudogastromyzon myersi referred to as the Hillstream Loach or Borneo Loach most commonly.
I need to find them for sale somewhere, are they like clown loaches in that they like conspecific company?