Cuties is already taken by ALL loaches! *nods*
I missed your post previously, if you want me to I can set up a thread like that, but I doubt it'd get us far. You know how hard it is to get a good picture of a loach! LOL! Have you tried putting up images on that other forum that's ALL about loaches? There are a ton of Loach ID posts - mine's up there, too! Browsing through those threads might help you out a bit, even if you don't post specifically for yourself. I think you're right, though. They need to grow out a bit - too hard to capture a bitty one really well enough to see the detail, and with them being so young. . . I don't know how much they'll change before they hit adulthood. I imagine that some of their markings will become a bit darker with time. . . maybe. . .lol!
One thing that I've noticed - and this could very easily be untrue - but it seems to me that 2012 was a REALLY difficult year for the stripey loaches. . . in my area, earlier last year when I got my first two groups - and also in the years BEFORE that, I saw the 'normal' Kuhli were everywhere! Every LFS shop had them every time I went in (they always caught my eye, even before I kept fish, I'd randomly go into LFS and look around with the girls) and they all looked the same - none of this tiny baby business. . .
But when I went back to get more for my shoal, NOBODY had them! I checked or called EVERY LFS within a 2-hour limit of my house, and in every place the shopkeepers were saying the same thing "We've been having a really difficult time ordering those in, can't get them, for some reason!" I left my information with every shop, and called back every few months to double-check - but they kept saying the same thing.
I started to look online at people's threads (not always on this forum) who had an interest in the species, and I noticed a LOT of reports from seemingly good fish-keepers stating that they had just gotten a group of Kuhli, and the entire batch died one by one within a week - and not ONLY theirs, but in every case, when they called the shop, their shops were saying that they ALSO had gotten a 'bad batch'
I have REALLY been wondering what could be going on here!? If they've finally figured out how to breed what we call P. Kuhli on the fish farms, or if they're still mostly wild-caught - as all of the sources still say. . . ? It *could* be, that if they were farming them, perhaps the some kind of loach protozoan was going through the bunch. From my understanding, the majority of the farmed fish that we get in our country come from only a few sources. If there was some trouble on the farms, this would explain the failing stock, and the subsequent difficulty in ordering these fish. . .
Or, if they ARE wild-caught still, perhaps the supply of what we call P.Kuhli is dwindling, or - as they're caught in the same areas, perhaps there was an illness going through the natural system that was harming them, specifically, and so we're seeing more and more of the different species sold in their stead? I still ALWAYS see P.Kuhli for sale in shops on line - but I've never seen their stock with my own eyes to verify that they are the right critters. . .
So, after nearly a year of searching, ONE LFS finally got in a batch of Kuhli - and they called me. You know that story, and they turned out NOT to be Kuhli. Now I see your thread, and you end up with what *could* be a fairly rare misfits in your specially ordered batch of Kuhli. . .and I really have to continue wondering what is going on with our loaches?!
there I went again. . . ^___^ I'm sure it isn't a big mystery, but it DOES seem odd from my limited perspective!