Care
The Ceylon Stone Sucker is a characterful fish suited to mature tanks that are over 4ft (120cm) long and which have good water movement and high O2 level. It will not thrive in a standard community set-up, so be sure to meet its requirements for highly oxygenated swiftly-moving waters - ideally provided by powerful external canister filtration. As with many members of the Garra genus, this species can be a bit quarrelsome with its own kind, and is best kept either singly or in groups of 5 or more. In numbers less than this, they are likely to bicker amongst themselves (and similar species) every so often, "greying out" as they do so. The aquarium should be aquascaped with a soft sand or very fine rounded gravel substrate, and furnished with cobbles, smooth rocks, and bogwood pieces. Lighting can be fairly bright to encourage algae growth, which the fish will enjoy browsing on for the micro-organisms it may contain. Shady areas can be provided with the layout of the rockwork/bogwood, and by growing canopies of hardy plants such as Anubias sp or Java fern (both tied to the driftwood). Some thought should be given to creating a number of "visual barriers" within the aquarium at the time of aquascaping, so if any territorial disputes do arise, the fish can get away from the other's line of sight. Please be aware that Ceylon Stone Suckers are capable of climbing up the glass with ease, something they tend to do when newly imported or moved; therefore be absolutely sure the tank has tight fitting coverslides and that there are no small gaps that the fish can crawl out of e.g. where equipment power leads feed into the back of the hood. Tankmates for the upper levels of the tank could include some of the Barilius, Danio, Devario, Opsarius, and smaller members of the Puntius genera (research individual species to ensure compatibility before purchase though, as not every species from these genera will be suitable). For bottom dwelling tankmates, you could consider many of the peaceful botiid river loaches, the nemacheilid brook loaches, and the more robust members of the balitorid hillstream loach group. Although Ceylon Stone Suckers tend to be of a relatively peaceful nature, they can be quite boisterous at feeding times and are not recommended for housing alongside slow-moving laterally-compressed fish such as discus or angelfish (which do not benefit from the same water conditions anyway).
Feeding
This species enjoys grazing on the micro-organisms found within algal growths in the aquarium; it should not be considered an algae-eater, as some sources erroneously suggest. Offer plenty of small meaty items such as mosquito larvae, vitamin-enriched brineshrimp, chopped Mysis shrimp etc, along with a variety of sinking catfish pellets/granules/wafers.
Breeding
This species has bred in the home aquarium, although details are few and far between. In such instances, the act of spawning has often gone unnoticed, and is only realised when the presence of small fry are found hiding amongst the decor. These findings have often occurred after larger than usual, slightly cooler water changes have been performed. In the wild, these fish are said to migrate, ascending small rocky streams to access their preferred spawning areas.
