Oreichthys are a group of tropical barbs found in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Myanmar (Burma), northern Malay Peninsula

Malay Peninsula

The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...

, and the Mekong

Mekong

The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....

 basin in Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

. They are found in ditches, ponds, streams (both highland and lowland) and canals. The genus Oreichthys (Smith 1933) was originally established to receive little fish collected in a small brook on Kao Sabap, an extensive mountain range near Chantaban, Thailand.

Species

There are three recognized species:

• Oreichthys cosuatis
  Oreichthys cosuatis
  Oreichthys cosuatis is a small cyprinid fish found in India and Bangladesh. It is also reported from Thailand and Myanmar.They are strictly freshwater, and are found in ditches, ponds, streams and canals ....
  
   (F. Hamilton
  Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
  Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India.The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to...
  
  , 1822)
• Oreichthys crenuchoides Schäfer, 2009
• Oreichthys parvus H. M. Smith
  Hugh McCormick Smith
  Hugh McCormick Smith was an American ichthyologist and administrator in the Bureau of Fisheries.-Biography:...
  
  , 1933

Physical description

All Oreichthys, with the exception of O. crenuchoides, possess a triangular-looking body, with the face being pointed. In O. crenuchoides, the body and face are more rounded. The last simple dorsal ray is flexible and smooth. Scale count is 23 in the lengthwise series and 7 in the transverse series. The tube-bearing scales of the lateral line are restricted to the first 6 or 7 scales anteriorly. The head is marked by numerous fine rows of pores, mostly in parallel groups on the snout, cheeks, interorbital space, and operuclar bones. Barbels are absent.

Distribution

Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), northern Malay Peninsula, and the Mekong basin in Laos.

Habitat

Oreichthys are found in ditches, ponds, streams (both highland and lowland) and canals.

Aquarium Maintenance

All Oreichthys species are easily maintained in aquaria. They are generally peaceful towards conspecifics and tankmates, even where the other fish may be smaller than they are. They appear to prefer cooler water temperatures, with 76^oF appearing to be the short-term upper limit unless auxiliary aeration is provided. They will feed on flake food, micro-pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, and gelatin diet. All in all they are not fussy feeders, and adapt readily to captivity.
pH should range from neutral to slightly alkaline with moderate water hardness.