Leptobotia elongata, "The Holy Grail Loach"

I'll start this thread with some information and pictures. If the mods can combine the other threads into this one, and people can contribute pictures and info. they find online as well.

I've first read about this fish many years ago from Chinese books, black and white pictures. The fish originally comes from the Yangtze River, which is the 3rd longest after the Amazon River. Never seen or heard of this fish in the hobby.I've heard of people saying that over 10 years ago they were once available. However there are none around from then to show for. These fish once in captivity are very hardy and would live for many years. My theory is that the fish were actually larger specimens of pelligrini, as that fish is easily confused with elongata as hydrocynus vittatus and goliaths are confused, or hydrolycus armatus and tatauaia, or small cichla sp., just like anything else. Especially when they're hiding, and emaciated, the 2 are easily confused.

To further support my theory: Leptobotia pelligrini is found in Southern China, and I've seen it exported on several occasions, and also labeled as the "royal clown loach" Southern China is a major fish export HUB, where all the Chinese fish tank products are exported.

Where the elongatas are found, there are no infrastructures set up for any kind of ornamental fish exports. There are very few "pet stores" and only carried a few red ear sliders, some gold fish, betta, and basic equipments. Most of the people there have not heard of let alone care about this fish as we found out after asking around.

2004 I was told they had imported some Royal Clown loaches, which people considered as the L. elongata. I was very excited, ordered and bought all of them. They were thin, 3" long, with red tails, soon to find out that they were infact Leptobotia pelligrini and not elongata.

2006 There were a few transported directly from China to Singapore. Unfortunately they all died before I had a chance to obtain them. These were imported from Central China where they come from alongside some other rare beauties.

2009, we were contacted by the local government township that they have been granted funds to breed and reintroduce this fish into the wild, and they've had 2 successful spawns. We immediately booked out tickets, flew there and met with the people. We donated a lumpsum of money to buy some of the off springs. The "breeder" also took us down to the river where they're found. We combed through fisherman's nets and found nothing. Most fisherman said that they have seen this fish in years, since the 3 gorge dams have been built, blocking the migratory path of these fish to find suitable spawning habitats. The following days we went to another city lower in the river and met with some fisherman that helped us in finding a few specimens from the wild, but most were in poor condition from their collection methods, only a few survived for photography and they then took them back for food or market.

Even though we obtained permission from the local government to obtain some specimens, when we tried to clear customs at the local city airport we faced many obstacles. They simply did not allow the export, we drove around town explaining to them our intentions and talked to many inspectors, missed our flight, they finally gave the stamp of approval to ship them into Beijing for further inspection before export. We arrived in Beijing near mid night, after spending another $2000 on last minute plane tickets, hours waiting in line at the cargo, and finding the inspector's office hidden in the completely dark streets of Beijing, we couldn't give up as we would have come back empty handed, and moving forward at that point seemed bleek and expensive. We had no choice but to get it on! Finally around 2 am we were able to claim our fish and bring them back to the hotel in Beijing. The following day we had to find stores, oxygen, and ice to cool them in the searing summer heat and that is another story and whole day ordeal again. Once we got on the plane bound for the US we felt like we've accomplished the impossible. Never have I experienced such difficulty in find a fish, but with the great help Stan Sung, with his mental support, and extensive travel/collecting experience that made this all happen. This the our story of the Holy Grail of all Loaches.

The fate of this fish is unclear, as wild ones are not reproducing since the habitats are destroyed, over fishing, and pollution. Most practice electric fishing in many areas, larger fish get stunned, but most smaller fish like loaches end up dying. There is not a big market for this fish as food, as they're not high on the table fare. If the interest is not there, the government will stop funding the breeding and reintroduction of this fish.

Fish that are also endangered but met enough commercial interest to breed are like the Chinese highfin shark, maxocyprinus asiaticus, they breed millions for food as well as the aquarium trade. In the wild that fish is practically extinct.

We've also encountered dozens of other incredibly interesting fish while collecting along the Yangtze tributary, from small barbs with rainbow like colors to fish with a elephant seal like face, and even heard of a fish that inhabits deep waters with teeth and grows over 20 pounds. There is a specie for ever niche of the hobby and scientific community.

Husbandary requirements of this fish:

Max length: 36" I've seen pictures of 2 specimens., and 10 pounds

Growth: birth to 8" in one year can be achieved

Water temp: in the wild 40 F-75 F. Scientists have shown they can tolerate up to 90 F for some time with no noticeable effects.

Ph: between 7-8 The fish come from murky water, large rivers, muddy pebble bottoms, with a lot of dissolved minerals making the water hard.

There is scarce vegetation growing alongside the riverbanks in the silt/sand

Sexual dimorphism: they sexes are not visually discernable

Diet: in the wild specimens that were cut open for the study contained small loaches, small catfish Trachysurus sp., and other small river shrimps of caridina sp. In the home aquaria they will easily take prepared food, from dried to frozen and even inhale feeders. If you hold your hand infront of them with food they will even gladely greet you by taking the food from your hand!

This is an excerpt from MFK - It was not written by me or my opinion. I'll post my opinion in the reply.

I notice this on every party boat I go on. They clean, gut, and fillet the fish alive, then toss the carcass aside, which sometimes is STILL breathing. I don't get why it's so hard to keep a little hammer by the fillet tables, and use it to "put out" the fish before they fillet it. It's like an extra 3 seconds added to the process. My friend carries a PVC pipe with an 8oz lead weight jammed in the end for such a purpose, to instantly "put out" fish he catches. Supposedly it tastes better, since when fish struggle to death, they build up lactic acid fermentation in their body.

But I just think that gutting and filleting a fish that is still obviously alive is just downright cruel.
Opinions?

(Note: Keep if civil. It did not stay civil when I posted it on the local fishing forum. There is no reason to turn this into a flamefest. I think this has potential to be a great discussion. Unfortunetaly, it also has potential to be a great flamewar, but let's not.)