The zebra loach (''Botia striata'') is a

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

loach Loaches are ray-finned fishes of the suborder Cobitoidei. They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in rivers and creeks throughout Eurasia and North Africa, northern Africa. Loaches are among the most diverse groups of fish; the ...

native to rivers and streams in the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The maximum size is about .Seriouslyfish:
Botia striata.
' Retrieved 24 June 2014.Kottelat, M. (2012)
Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei).
''The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 26: 1–199.'' It lives in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

climate with

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

range of , and prefers water with 6.0 to 7.5 pH. Zebra loaches are peaceful fish suitable to community

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

tanks. However, being bottom feeders, they may show some aggression against other smaller bottom feeders. Therefore, small

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 ...

are not suitable tankmates. They should be kept in groups of at least five. Any fewer and they will become stressed. They require some caves in which to hide during most of daylight. ''B. striata'' will accept a wide variety of fish foods, including live food such as blackworms, snails and small shrimps, and most commercial brands of sinking fish foods. This species is shy, and will spend much of its time hiding. Also rarely, during times of stress it has been seen to attack smaller fish such as tetras. According to the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

, the zebra loach is currently endangered in the wild due to habitat alteration combined with a small native range. Aquarists interested in keeping zebra loach specimens are strongly advised to investigate the source of locally available fishes, and to only purchase those known to be captive-bred. Home aquarium breeding is unknown, but the species is bred on a commercial basis with the use of hormones.

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q169395 Botia Taxa named by C. R. Narayan Rao Fish described in 1920