Genus · Loaches

Koima

Koima is a genus with 2 species in this atlas, catalogued in the Loaches section, recorded from India. Every species below links to a full researched profile.

Species in atlas
2
Adult sizes
2 in
IUCN assessed
2 of 2
Recorded from
India

About the genus

Koima is a small genus of loaches endemic to India, placed within the stone-loach family Nemacheilidae. Its two species are diminutive by loach standards - both around 2 in - and, like other nemacheilids, are slender, bottom-oriented fish adapted to life in flowing hill and forest streams, with barbels around the mouth for locating invertebrates among gravel and leaf litter.

Koima monilis (the spotted loach) and K. remadevii are not established aquarium fish; the genus is recent enough, and specific enough to Indian freshwater systems, that it remains primarily of interest to regional ichthyologists rather than the hobby trade. One species is currently assessed as Least Concern and the other has not yet been evaluated by the IUCN, a common situation for small, narrowly distributed loaches described in recent years.

IUCN Red List: Least Concern · 1 Not Evaluated · 1

The 2 species

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

(Hora, 1921)

Spotted loach

2 in SL · LC

(Shaji, 2002)

NE

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How to cite

Aquarist Atlas (2026). Genus Koima. Aquarist Atlas. https://www.aquaristatlas.com/koima/

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