Genus · Loaches

Acanthopsoides

Acanthopsoides is a genus with 6 species in this atlas, catalogued in the Loaches section, recorded from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and 4 more countries. Adult sizes run from 2 in to 3 in. Every species below links to a full researched profile.

Species in atlas
6
Adult sizes
2–3 in
IUCN assessed
6 of 6
Recorded from
7 countries

About the genus

Acanthopsoides is a genus of small loaches in the family Cobitidae, distributed across mainland and insular Southeast Asia — the atlas has records from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The 6 species in the atlas are modest in size, roughly 2–3 in, with the elongate, laterally compressed body typical of true loaches, built for working through soft substrate and leaf litter in slow-moving streams, floodplain channels, and swampy lowland habitat.

The genus has little to no presence in the aquarium trade, and English common names in the atlas are limited to three species — the Hapalias loach (Acanthopsoides hapalias), Molo loach (A. molobrion), and Roberts loach (A. robertsi) — with the rest known only by their scientific names, a sign of how little attention this genus has received outside of taxonomic literature. Conservation data are correspondingly thin: four of the six species in the atlas have not yet been formally assessed by the IUCN, and the two that have both carry Least Concern ratings.

IUCN Red List: Least Concern · 2 Not Evaluated · 4

The 6 species

Every Acanthopsoides recorded in this atlas. Each card links to a full researched profile — distribution, water parameters, and aquarium care, cited to primary sources.

Siebert, 1991

2.5 in SL · NE

(Smith, 1945)

2.5 in SL · NE

Fowler, 1934

2 in SL · NE

Siebert, 1991

Hapalias loach

2.5 in SL · LC

Siebert, 1991

Molo loach

2 in SL · LC

Siebert, 1991

Roberts loach, Dwarf horseface loach

3 in TL · NE

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How to cite

Aquarist Atlas (2026). Genus Acanthopsoides. Aquarist Atlas. https://www.aquaristatlas.com/acanthopsoides/

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