Leptobotia is a genus of loaches in the family Botiidae, native to China and Vietnam, where atlas records place it in the rivers and streams of the region's temperate and subtropical drainages, including the Yangtze basin. The 16 species in the atlas span a wide size range, from about 3 in to a hefty 19.5 in, and share the botiid loach body plan: an elongated, laterally compressed body, a downturned mouth with barbels for probing the substrate, and (in most family members) an erectile spine beneath the eye used defensively. Species such as Leptobotia elongata reach among the largest sizes known in the loach family, setting the genus apart from the mostly small-bodied botiids more familiar to aquarists.
Leptobotia has only a modest presence in the aquarium hobby — a few smaller species such as L. rubrilabris and L. taeniops occasionally reach specialist loach keepers — while the larger species are essentially unknown outside their native range and of primarily regional food-fish or scientific interest. Conservation data for the genus is thin: the atlas tally is dominated by Not Evaluated species, with a smaller number of Least Concern and one Critically Endangered, reflecting how little formal assessment has reached this group of Chinese and Vietnamese river loaches despite pressure on many East Asian freshwater systems from damming and pollution.