How Slow Can you Grow? (Hillstream Loach question)

[jwcarlson]

I bought a hillstream loach around Christmas... so about six months ago.  And it has not increased in size what-so-ever.  

Perhaps there's lots of different varieties and I just have a tiny one, but the next time I went into this particular store, the ones he had were many times bigger.  So I thought maybe this one would grow at some point, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.  This is an old picture, but it's in a planted tank, I don't scrub the sides.  There's some algae on the plants and I'm sure on the wood/rocks, but it isn't algae laden by any means.  I feed daily Xtreme Krill Flakes, a shrimp pellet by Wardley (I think my wife bought this with the kids, so I've been using it... the corys seem to love it and are growing up pretty well), Co-Op fry pellets, and an algae pellet with zucchini (and other vegetables).  I have never seen it actively eating anything except for on the glass, rocks, and plants.  Ever since we upgraded to 37 gallon from 10 gallon qt, he got a nice rock pile and he seems to just hang out in/around that, rarely leaving that area when I'm observing.  Spends most of his time inside the rocks with the shrimp as best I can tell.

I don't mind if he's just a tiny fella, but it just seems like I'm doing something wrong and maybe I'm not helping him.  I would guess his length to be under 1.5" and probably closer to 1".   This picture makes him look huge now that I look at it.  He's only about as wide as a pencil... a AA battery (which is 2") would dwarf him in comparison (I think). 

Am I missing something?  I've been thinking about buying some Repashy, if I do that, which one would be best to buy for him?

[jwcarlson]

Here is a better size reference shot.

 

[Dancing Matt]

Look up Borneo spotted loach (Gastromyzon punctulatus?) then Hillstream loach (Sewellia lineolata). These are two different species and yours appears to be a Borneo loach (Spotted Borneo sucker?) which appear to be smaller than Hillstream loaches.

Here is a picture of my Hillstream loach for comparison. Different pattern is the most noticeable difference.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Dancing Matt

[Colu]

if its Gastromyzon punctulatus they  get 1.4-1.6in in size that would explain the smaller size

[jwcarlson]

Thanks!  I thought there were two types of the same thing (that would grow to the same size).  So I guess it's full grown.  Haha

Edited May 12, 2022 by jwcarlson