General information – Though most often called the Butterfly loach

you may find this fish under a variety of names such as Chinese

Hillstream Loach, Hillstream Loach, Borneo Loach or Hong Kong

Pleco. The Butterfly loach found in East Asia and live in fast moving

streams where the water is cool and saturated with oxygendue to their

peaceful behavior this fish known to be a good community fish. The,

Hillstream Loach is quite entertaining to as they can often be seen

sucking on the side of the aquarium glass looking for algae.

Sometimes they can be seen sucking algae upside-down.  

Common Name - Butterfly loach, Borneo Loach, Hong Kong Pleco,

 Hillstream Loach, Chinese Hillstream Loach 

Scientific Name - Beaufortia kweichowensis 

Family - Amphilidae

Photo by: Dr. Gal Goshen

First discovered - Fang, 1931 

Nutrition – omnivore, the Hillstream Loach will eat all kinds of commercial food, flakes, pellets,

sinking wafers and frozen food. They also love to scavenge debris and graze on algae 

Behavior – peaceful  

Maintenance and care – The Butterfly loach require 36 inches (90 cm) tank or up with plants, rocks

and wood as a hiding places. The substrate needs to be a fine gravel or sand with no sharp edges.

The Butterfly loach should be kept in schools of 4 and up and with non aggressive tankmates.

excellent water-flow and aeration is a must. 

Water Parameters – temperature: 72F - 80F (22C-26 C), PH: 6.5-7, DH: 5-15  

Breeding – The Butterfly loach have been bred by quite a few hobbyist al over the world but not

much is known about their breeding habits. According to these people the courtship consists of the

male dancing around the female. After the courtship, the male digs a small pit under the edge of a

rock or a wood and then bury the eggs. When the fry hatch they are quite big.

The Butterfly loach is not yet bred commercially.