Hillstream loaches... who would have guessed there was so many varieties... ( I added some pictures )

I guess it makes sense, when you think about it, these are basically Asian Plecos... & there are no wild natural Plecos in Asia... so these fill the natural void in those environments, that plecos would fill, but in Asia... & how many varieties of pleco are there???

I started adding them to my Asian tank, early on, I was thinking there were 4-5 varieties, & my goal was to add a few of each... they are small right??? in reality, as I started getting into them, there is probably as many varieties as there are plecos, maybe more... they are not as well researched, named, & documented as the South American fish... I've had to start being choosy...

my list of fish I currently have... I decided to add the scientific names, as best I could, as it may be helpful in better identifying... these were copied off of the www. & pictures... I no way claim to be an expert, if something doesn't look right, let me know, so I can do more digging ( and thus learning )

Reticulated... Sewellia lineolata

Black Spotted, with light spots ( cream to tan spots )... Gastromyzon sp.

Vietnamese Tigers ( center fish in this group )... Pseudogastromyzon sp.
I didn't find any pictures of the on the www. & even Dan's fish ( the seller didn't have pictures of them ) one of my Panda Garras, & one of my Vietnamese Lizard Hillstream's photobombed the lil Tiger....

Vietnamese Lizards... Vanmanenia sp. 'Vietnam'

Brown spotted ( with dark to black spots )... Beaufortia kweichowensis


I've had to set my limit to 2-3 more varieties, depending... so far, there hasn't been any thing more than the occasional light territory squabble...

I'd still like to add... 2 or 3 of these, depending on dates of availability
Saddled Hillstreams... Homaloptera orthogoniata

Bloody Mary Hillstreams... Gastromyzon sp. "Bloody Mary"

Zebra Hillstreams... Gastromyzon zebrinus

Red Tailed Reticulated Hillstreams... Gastromyzon sp.

& I like this one, with no common name... Pseudogastromyzon changtingensis

I really liked the Neon Hillstreams... Gastromyzon cf. lepidogaster
but they were completely out of my price range...


the next thing is feeding them... they are all Aufwuchs ( bio film / algae eaters ) so I have bright lights on the tank, & limited amount of drift wood, to keep the water clear, so Algae will grow down to the rocks on the bottom ... I supplement with Repashi Soilient Green, & Bacter AE to bolster the natural algae... & add a good quality Spirulina algae tab, but there is competition for added foods with the Tin Foil Barbs, & other Asian fish, that own the center of the tank... I also keep an Indian Almond leaf in the tank, for microbes to grow on, and they seem to disappear pretty quickly… I think just about everyone, Hillstream’s, and other residents gobble those up as they begin to culture

anyone else play??? what varieties do you have... anything you are doing different as food???

I have been reading various posts on these critters. They seem pretty interesting. Watching to see what others say about them.

I think @WhistlingBadger has some in his Asian tanks...

He was who I was thinking of but his moniker slipped my mind for a big. Sorry Mr. Badger.

yep... he's not a famous moderator anymore... soon to be all forgotten

Yep, living in happy obscurity with my tanks.

I have some reticulateds in my 55g, and one little borneo loach. Those saddleback loaches are SO cool looking, but don't really fit any of my tanks. You could also add the good old panda garra to this list. I don't know if they're technically a hillstream loach, but they fit the role.

yep... I have 5 Pandas in this tank... they live a similar lifestyle... one photobombed it's way in the picture of the Vietnamese Tiger... that picture is taken from my tank, as I couldn't find a picture on the www. of a Tiger... one of the lizards is also in that picture..

also there are lots more out there, not pictured here, & without names as well... some listed like this... "Mystery Hillstream Loach Gastromyzon sp." ( no pictures )

Technically, I think we're looking at species, not varieties. One species can have different colour varieties, but those fish are different enough and seem to be far enough apart geographically that they would be distinct. A lot of seem to come from different Genuses as well.
I got 4 Sewellia lineolata (now sold as tiger something or other) when they first showed up in the hobby, and seem to have gotten the only bloodthirsty mass murdering hillstream loach in history. I gave them away and wrote them off. I hated that fish. I had good current in the tank, the right food, everything. And he was the grim reaper in his tanks. I gave him away with warnings to a friend who thought she could handle him, and he was a serial killer there too.

Hillstream loaches and I got off on the wrong foot. But it's fun to see when a new group of fish enters the hobby. It still happens a lot, but the new fish are pricey, and the wannabe monopoly stores won't sell them.

another thing, is I think all or most all Hillstreams are cooler water species... the other fish I have in this tank are as well... & I keep my thermostat set in the low 70's on the heater... I do prefer to run a heater, as the tanks are in the basement, & room temperature, would probably drop the tanks temp a little lower than I'd like...
@GaryE ... I assume since I ran into all kinds of Sewellia lineolata, when looking for pictures of my Tigers... it seems that the ones they are calling "reticulated" now were originally called "tigers" in the hobby... I believe the scientific names match with what you listed... I've never heard of problems with this species before... do you remember your tank temperature, that the fish was in??? maybe it was hotter than the fish likes & that made it more aggressive??? my previously dominant Hillstream, was a larger articulated... it originally tried to get the lizards to move, when I 1st added them to the tank, but since they were larger, & pretty much ignored it, I guess it accepted the lizards, as they are regularly in the same spots, in the bubble waterfalls without anymore squabbling...

A few things I've noticed that might explain @GaryE's experience:

1. My S. lineolata are very social fish. They interact with each other quite a bit, chase each other around at feeding time, but completely ignore everyone else. I have somewhere between five and eight of them. (I'm not sure because my tank has a lot of cover and I can never see them all at once) Like many social species, the numbers spread out the aggression so nobody gets hurt. In the absence of sufficient conspecifics, I wouldn't be surprised if they got aggressive.
2. An abundance of cover probably helps too. Mine seem to feel very secure because they know they're only a quick dash away from impenetrable cover.
3. I suspect this species is also a bit more carnivorous than commonly believed. I alternate algae wafers and sinking color pellets; they seem to relish both, along with whatever they can scrape off hard surfaces. Many aufwuchs grazers eat a lot of meaty micro-critters in the wild. If they aren't getting enough protein and already have some aggressive tendencies, I wouldn't put it past them to turn on other fish.

Or maybe you just got one that didn't get enough love as a child. Or enough time in the naughty chair.

I only have 3 lineolata... but many smaller Hillstreams of the same "body style"... the lizards are so far, my 1st departure from the traditional "body style" you would think they would all carry Gastromyzon, 1st name, & the Lizards & Saddled would be a different Species... I know Dan's had another Lizard species, that they had made note in the listing, that they were more of a meat eater than vegetarian... I'll see if I can find that listing & link it...

I started with four of them, and my tank was at 21c to 22c, so around 70f. I kept them at Aphyosemion killie temperatures.

I think I got a basic serial killer fish personality in my tank. I've spoken to quite a few people keeping these now popular fish, and no one else has seen what I saw. The horror....

I should cross reference which serial killers, mercenaries or hit men died a few months before I got my guy, to check the reincarnation possibilities.

Saddlebacks should have been called underwater boa constrictor with that pattern. Always admired that fish because of that pattern but didn't know it was considered a part of the hillstream family. Good thread

At least these 2 different lizards get along… bigger Vietnamese lizard on the roof of the pagoda newer smaller variety ( Bhavania australis ) on the glass, also a panda has to get into the picture