Care
The False Siamese Flying Fox is known from the Mekong River basin in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also found in the Chao Phraya, the Maeklong, and several smaller rivers in Thailand, and in the waterways of Peninsular Malaysia. Here, it is inhabits clear, swiftly-flowing, highly-oxygenated streams with rocky substrates covered in aufwuchs-rich biofilms. The aquarium should be mature, and at least 5ft (150cm) long with vigorous water movement/high O2 level. This species will not thrive in a standard community set-up, so be sure to meet its requirements for highly oxygenated fast-flowing waters - ideally provided by powerful external canister filtration. The False Siamese Flying Fox is peaceful towards other fish, but a little territorial with its own kind and similar-looking species. In the wild it has been observed moving around in loose aggregations, so is best maintained in groups of 5 or more in aquaria with plenty of visual barriers amongst the decor. In numbers less than this, they may squabble amongst themselves every so often, "˜greying out"™ as they do so, so always aim for a good sized group in order that no single fish bears the continual brunt of any aggression. 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 minor territorial disputes do arise, the fish can get away from the other"™s line of sight. An extremely important point to note is that Garra cambodgiensis 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. Bottom dwelling tankmates could include many of the peaceful botiid river loaches, the nemacheilid brook loaches, and the more robust members of the balitorid hillstream loach group. For the upper levels, consider some of the Barilius, Danio, Devario, Opsarius, and smaller members of the Puntius genus (research individual species to ensure compatibility before purchase though, as not every species from these genera will be suitable). Although these fish are relatively peaceable, they can be fairly 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). Water quality is of utmost importance for the False Siamese Flying Fox "“ be sure to carry out regular partial water changes to ensure that nitrate levels remain at a minimum. May also be seen on sale as the Cambodian Logsucker or Stonelapping Minnow, and it continues to be traded under the invalid synonym G. taeniata.
This fish is usually imported in error and is often mislabeled as the Siamese Flying Fox (Crossocheilus oblongus) thanks largely to an incorrect photo in the Baensch Aquarium Fish guide! The colourful fins of the Garra make it easily distinguished from the plainer but harder working 'SAE' but beware image searches...
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
There are no reports of the False Flying Fox breeding in the home aquarium. In the wild, this species has been observed migrating into floodplains and rice paddy fields at the first onset of the rainy season in order to breed.
