The Holy Grail of loaches, the royal clown loach, is a species of botiid fish found in flowing water in the upper and middle Yangtze basin in China. It is a smaller loach as compared to the imperial flower loach, reaching approximately 8 inches. Predominantly a riverine loach favoring clear, well-oxygenated, running water with substrates of rocks and gravel. Often present in bedrock and boulder-filled headwater streams but also found in larger, turbidriver channels.