Botiidae, the pointface loaches, is a family of cypriniform ray-finned fishes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Until recently they were placed in the true loach family Cobitidae, until Maurice Kottelat revised the loaches and re-elevated this taxon to family rank in 2012.Kottelat, M. (2012): Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement No. 26: 1-199. The family includes about 56 species.
The Botiids are more robust than most of their relatives in Cobitidae and tend to have a more or less arched back, yielding an altogether more fusiform shape. Botiids typically have a pointed snout of intermediate length, while many cobitids are remarkably stub-nosed.
Botiids are generally fairly small, with maximum lengths between depending on the species involved, although Leptobotia elongata reaches (Chromobotia macracanthus has been claimed to reach a similar size, but this would be exceptional).
Subfamilies and genera Botiidae contains the following genera, grouped into two subfamilies:
Subfamily Botiinae Ambastaia Kottelat, 2012 Botia Gray, 1831 Chromobotia Kottelat, 2004 Sinibotia P.-W. Fang, 1936 Syncrossus Blyth, 1860 Yasuhikotakia Nalbant, 2002 Subfamily Leptobotiinae Leptobotia Bleeker, 1870 Parabotia Guichenot, 1872
As aquarium fish Many of the more brightly colored species are popular with freshwater aquarists, so are of importance in the aquarium trade. Botiidae often encountered in aquarium trade include: Clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus Red-finned loach, Yasuhikotakia modesta Dwarf loach, Ambastaia sidthimunki Skunk loach, Yasuhikotakia morleti Yoyo loach, Botia almorhae Zebra loach, B. striata Bengal loach, B. dario Burmese border loach, B. kubotai
References Kottelat, M. (2004): Botia kubotai, a new species of loach (Teleostei: Cobitidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on botiine nomenclature and diagnosis of a new genus. Zootaxa 401: 1–18. PDF abstract and first page image Tang, Qiong-ying; Yu, Dan & Liu, Huan-zhang (2008): 斑纹薄鳅 (Leptobotia zebra) 应该为斑纹沙鳅 (Sinibotia zebra) ["Leptobotia zebra Should Be Revised as Sinibotia zebra (Cypriniformes-Botiidae)"]. Zoological Research 29(1): 1-9 [Chinese with English abstract]. PDF fulltext