Holy Schistura!

Schistura devdevi is a small fish, rarely seen in your local aquarium store. They are most often called The Saddleback or Devdevi Loach, and frequently both names together, which is what we call them here at Aquatropic. The Saddleback Devdevi Loach was named for an Indian biologist and ichthyologist named Dev Dev Mukerji (1903-1937). They are also occasionally called Firefly Loach.

With a very small wild range, Schistura devdevi is known only from the eastern slopes of the Himalayas, where they live in very clean, cool, fast-moving water. Regular readers of our column will recognize this as a recipe; the cooler and cleaner water is, and the faster it moves, the more oxygen it will hold. For those of you interested in the science behind this, it is called Henry's Law. The primary need for the Saddleback Devdevi Loach is exactly this, high levels of oxygen.

As is intimated above, the best, and most natural way to do this is with cool aquarium temperatures and high flow. Try to keep the temperature above 60 but below 75 and the flow at around ten times the total volume of the aquarium. For example, in a ten-gallon aquarium, you would need around 100 gallons per hour in filtration and/or other water movement devices (like powerheads, etc.) There is another option here in that the display needn't necessarily have a ton of flow (even though they will love this option). The home display can make up for a lack of flow with air stones.

Saddleback Devdevi Loaches are small fish, with the giants among them never getting more than an inch and a half long. As a result, you can keep them in a small tank; a group of 5 would be totally at home in a ten-gallon aquarium. When planning the aquarium, longer is better than taller for this specific fish. These tanks should mimic the fish's natural home, with a rounded pebble substrate and smooth rocks and driftwood for cover, which all work well with the flow they'll prefer. Obviously, this type of display is not really conducive to growing plants. Even though the Schistura devdevi is unlikely to bother your plants, in order to keep them in a planted display, you'll need to utilize plants that can hang in there, like maybe Anubias? The other option would be to reduce the flow dramatically and increase the forced oxygenation, which carries its own challenges for planted tanks.

Other than oxygenation and very clean water (which are tied to each other through a process called BOD or biological oxygen demand,) Schistura devdevi aren't that picky about water chemistry parameters. Keep the nitrates very low, under 5ppm (and less is always better) which will mean regular and large water changes, in addition to the strong filtration. In regard to pH and hardness, as long as both values are relatively moderate, there shouldn't be any complications.

These little guys are super peaceful, they'll engage each other in antics, and you should keep them in groups to enhance this. They'll also be bolder when kept together and with other schooling fish. Aim for other fish that like this level of current, things like Rasboras and Danios are great, Butterfly Loaches and Odessa Barbs would work well. (we recently posted an article on these under-rated and over-gorgeous fish too).

Feeding Devdevis is easy and can almost always be taught to take sinking pellets, but will usually take small meaty foods, both live and thawed without fuss. In the wild, these fish are omnivores, eating everything the current delivers, and they have to make these choices fast, so they aren't that picky. In house we feed them a mixed diet of small foods from Gamma Frozen Foods. This mix will be a blend of their Brine and different fortified Brines like Brine plus Omega and Brine plus Spirulina among others. We also like to use Gamma Daphnia, Cyclops and Mini Bloodworms. We feed Saddleback Devdevis twice a day and in the home aquarium this will also be adequate. Take your time feeding them, use a small amount of food, and let them eat it all, then add more, do this until the intensity of their interest starts to fade, probably three to four times. This process will mimic their wild feeding and make sure that all the fish get enough sustenance in the challenging current and competition for grub.

We get asked for recommendations for small aquarium fish all the time, and Saddleback Devdevi Loaches are a great one, especially for someone who wants to do a river, hillstream or higher flow display. They're not common, so you won't see them in everyone's aquarium. They're straightforward to keep, stay small and are endlessly entertaining to watch them swim around and pester each other. Just make sure they get enough oxygen and food and your Schistura devdevi will be thriving. Ask your Local Fish Store about getting you a group of them from Aquatropic for your tank!