graceful, or clutzy...

[Magnum Man]

some of my fish just exude grace, and some sort of bumble around... my blue lace angel fish seems really refined and graceful, while my aeneus Cory's bumble and bounce off of everything, and everyone in their tank... in my Hillstream tank, my new Saddlebacks love my vine roots but struggle with them... the slightly smaller red saddlebacks are masters of the vine roots, and spend most of their time in them, gracefully moving from root to root... the Panda Garra's, are like my Cory's, bouncing off of everyone, and everything...

I wonder if the different environments they lived in wild, effects their level of grace... Cory's likely in the open river bed, and more graceful fish likely have a more complex environment they developed in ???

 

[GaryE]

I think it depends on what we call complex. Corys seem well adapted to feed on the bottom, with their flat bellies and armoured backs. A little more heft seems useful in currents and moving streams.

It sounds like the two saddlebacks are shaped by different feeding zones.

An angelfish is graceful in a tank with moderate flow and roots descending all around it, but it looks like me dancing in a rapids flow tank. There, when I had Orthochromis and Steatocranus with reduced swim bladders (bottom hoppers), the fish that can barely swim looked like really elegant survivors in their tanks. An angelfish would have looked like a wet shirt blown off a clothesline.

I know, I go on and on, but it fascinates me. If you design the tank right, almost everything looks elegant. If you squint.

We like smaller fish in tanks, because they fit. But there's an incredible diversity of shapes depending on how their environments have shaped them. Evolution's the greatest show on Earth.

 

[Magnum Man]

these are the newest Saddlebacks, and they seem to be settling in nicely, and are often viewable, but seem to struggle with the vine roots...

Saddle Back Loach (Homaloptera cf. parclitella)

A resident of fast-moving, rocky streams in Southeast Asia, Saddle Back Loaches use their modified pectoral fins to attach themselves to the rocky substrate and move among the rocks in search of food. In the wild, they are grazers and generalists, feeding on algae, biofilm, and small insects and...

www.aqua-imports.com

these are the smaller "reds" ( been here for about 6 months ) currently about half the size of the newer ones, but they are masters of the vine roots... very similar shape and patterning...

Red Lizard Loach (Homaloptera cf. orthogoniata)

A resident of fast-moving, rocky streams in Southeast Asia, Red Lizard Loaches use their modified pectoral fins to attach themselves to the rocky substrate and move among the rocks in search of food. In the wild, they are grazers and generalists, feeding on algae, biofilm, and small insects and...

www.aqua-imports.com

 

[Magnum Man]

you can see the description is similar, yet there is a big difference in "grace" or dexterity