Usually the different species of banded Coolie loaches (Pangio kuhlii, P. semicincta, P. myersi, P. shelfordi, P. alternans, P. cuneovirgata, P. malayana) are not distinguished in the trade because they are so variable in color and are often imported mixed. The sorting of Coolie loach is an activity you don’t want your worst enemy to do, and it’s no fun for the animals either. That’s why you leave it and title everything as “kuhlii”.
But no rule without exception. Now we have received the adorable Dwarf coolie, Pangio cuneovirgata, almost “pure of variety” (only a few small P. semicincta are in between) from Thailand. These cute miniature loaches grow to only 4 cm long, rarely large females even reach 5 cm. They are perfect dwarf loaches for miniature aquariums. Since all Coolie loach are initially somewhat sensitive to infectious diseases and do not tolerate medications well, you should provide a boggy environment with dead leaves, alder suppositories and peat. Then the acclimation succeeds well and you can have many years of pleasure with these amazingly long-lived dwarfs.
For our customers: the animals have code 441058 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
