Unidentified Catfish, Catfish ID - 06/27/07
Hi, I've been searching sites (Thanks Google) for a while now looking for
anything to help identify a recently adopted catfish. So far, your site seems to
be the most informative and popular, so here I am.
The new guy (or girl) is approximately 6-7 inches long with barbels extending
about the same distance. The general shape is that of a Pictus sp. as far as I
can tell. It appears to be "naked" with a light silver body, white belly and 3
poorly defined lateral stripes of black, white and black. The tail fin is
forked. I know it would be easier to identify with a picture, but I can't
provide one yet.
As far as behavior goes:
It hides under my rock formation and comes out only at night. When he does come
out, he taps the front of the tank as if maybe the glass will give way.
I've had him about a week and have yet to see him eat anything. A few freeze
dried krill have disappeared after a while in the tank, but since they float I
can't be sure it was the catfish that ate them. Other then that I've tried
shrimp pellets and "variety wafers" since they sink nicely.
I know some catfish eat the wrong things sometimes when they get hungry and I
want to make sure my other fish will be ok.
I have a 55 Gal. with 2 Blue Gouramis, 2 Neon Blue Dwarf Gouramis, 2 Clown
Loaches, 5 Platies and 3 Juli Cories. (and the 6 inch cat)
Thank you for any help you can provide. Josh
< Of coarse a picture would be very helpful, so instead check out
planetcatfish.com. Check for one of the Mystus cat or Pimelodus species.-Chuck>
Yellow eel tail catfish 6/5/07
Do you have any information on this freshwater aquarium sized fish. it
is Australian i have been told.
< Indeed it is Australasian. The yellow-tail eel catfish is a species of
Plotosidae, that is, a catfish belonging to the same group as the marine
striped catfish that used to be quite common in the trade. The exact species
is unknown to me. The name is not recognized by Fishbase or any aquarium
book I have, and is only used by a single fish farm's web site and they
don't even mention the Latin name! It may possibly be Neosilurus hyrtlii or
Neosilurus glencoensis, both of which have been traded as the yellow-finned
eel catfish. Anyway, these catfish are all pretty similar, and while there
are some dwarf species (15 cm or less) and some giant species (above 90 cm),
most are 25-50 cm size bracket. The freshwater species outnumber the marine
species, and in terms of water chemistry these freshwater species are not in
the least fussy and will adapt to anything suitable for freshwater fish
generally.>
> put one in my cichlid tank and lost all of my cichlids. they died one
after the other. do you think it would be disease or something to do with
the catfish ??? i have kept these cichlids for approx 4 years with no
previous problems.
<Well, these catfish are extremely capable predators, and can and will eat
anything they can stuff into their mouths. But they are also venomous, being
equipped with one or more spines capable of delivering an excruciatingly
painful venom. To be fair though, venomous fish rarely if ever use their
venoms offensively, so the catfish wouldn't deliberately jam itself against
a cichlid intending to kill the cichlid. But depending on the size
difference, I suppose it's possible the cichlids tried to eat the catfish,
and got stung that way. Regardless, the Plotosidae generally make acceptable
tankmates for robust communities. The Plotosidae tend to be more or less
gregarious, and at least when not fully grown seem to do best kept in
groups. Some species will in fact pine away completely if not kept with
companions. As they mature they become less sociable and expect secure
hidey-holes, but even adults tend to be found in twos and threes in the
wild, so getting a buddy or two for your catfish is probably a very good
idea. Hope this helps, Neale>
Re: yellow eel tail catfish 6/6/07
thanks...for prompt reply....
<No problem.>
do you think the catfish has brought in a virus or disease that killed off
the rest of my tank as the catfish is the only survivor now. lost rainbow
sharks, cichlids and small catfish x2 all dead except the newly arrived
catfish
<Seems very unlikely. Viruses tend to be species-specific. Possibly a
bacteria, but these tend to affect only certain fish and even in worst-case
scenarios the fish get ill gradually and obviously. So you'd notice things
like lethargy, loss of colour, dropsy, and so on before fish infected with
internal bacteria or parasites actually died. Some fish have a toxic mucous
(boxfish for example) but these tend to kill everything, including the
boxfish. So I don't think that's likely. If the catfish was simply attacking
things at night, you'd expect to see damage on the dead fish -- any sign of
that? If you had an electric catfish, explaining the sudden deaths would be
easier, too. But assuming you have a genuine eel-tail catfish of some type
that's not a possibility either. Obviously you need to check water quality
and chemistry. This may be a case of two unrelated events merely connected
in time: i.e., you introduced the catfish at the same time your aquarium
crashed for one reason or another.>
regards
tom
<A picture of the catfish, and some aquarium stats would be useful: size of
the tank, filtration, pH, hardness, nitrite. Cheers, Neale>
Butterfly Catfish, Identification - 07/25/2006 <Sisoridae>
Hello Bob my name is Allan Larkins I am the general manager of creatures
great and small in Victoria I have seen several postings for people trying to
research butterfly catfish and unfortunately the answer is always the same "did
you mean African butterfly fish" but the fish they are trying to research is
also known as the Asian moth cat Latin: HARA HARA OR HARA JORDANI.
<Hmm.... I'm thinking you might mean Hara jerdoni, here; seems that H. jordani
may be a common misspelling of this name. Fishbase and PlanetCatfish both seem
to lead in that direction. And thanks for this! I've never heard this group
called "moth" cats.>
Look forward to more great info on your site.
<I will. I always do.>
Sincerely, Allan
<All the best to you, -Sabrina>
Shades of Billy Shakespeare! Blue Dolphin Catfish? 12/22/2005
I have just purchased what they called a blind brackish blue dolphin
catfish. Is there such a fish, I can not find him any where. I have him in a
nano tank. Can you give me any info or place to go for info. Thanks, Jane
<Mmm, doesn't come up on fishbase.org... I suspect this is a nomen for some
species of Cetopsid (whale catfish), or perhaps (my second guess), an ariid...
Can you send a likeness/pic? Bob Fenner>
Freshwater: Algae Eater…….of some sort - 10/24/05
Hello there
<Hello.>
I have a quick question for you. I have lost 3 algae eaters in the past month. The second one we bought from our local fish store, it died within a few days. The last one that we just bought (from a diff. pet store) lasted for a week. Is there a thing called bad algae that could be killing our poor algae eaters?
<This is where we run into a problem with common names there are various fish that retailers label as algae eaters. Could be anything from a Chinese Algae Eater (Gyrinocheilos aymonieri) to a Golden Algae Eater (Gyrinocheilos
aymorieri), heck I have even seen the common Pleco (Hypostomus punctatus or Liposarcus multiradiatus) labeled as an algae eater. In short if any of these fish keep passing away on you, there is something wrong with the environment: your tank.
Could be a number of things from poor water quality (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temperature, improper pH) to improper acclimation procedure. Keep in mind while these fish do eat algae, all but the largest of tanks cannot provide adequate algae to keep them healthy. You will have to supplement with some type of wafer or pellet composed of vegetable material.>
Sorry not to mention this earlier - this is a fresh water, the water tests fine and its been up for a little over a year. Thanks for helping. Cody
<You're welcome, Adam J.>
ALBINO CATFISH
Hello, When I was a kid, my dad had an aquarium & pet shop. I loved watching the fish, but not doing the "cleaning & what-not". I still love watching the fish, but not the cleaning.
I have a 20 gal. tank that I think keep pretty clean. The water is always clear, & most of the fish look great! The problems I am having are this: I have an Albino Cat Fish in the tank that is so light colored, it looks almost white. At first, I thought it looked that way because of the light, but now I don't think so as the fish was more of a pink color when I got it. My other cat fish died about a month ago and looked just as white as this one does. Any suggestions on what I should do? Lisa
< Albino fish are actually pretty common in the hobby. Genetically though they seem weaker than their normal colored counterparts. If you are worried then I would check the nitrates. These can creep up over time and cause weak fish to get sick. Up to 25 ppm is fine for most fish , but in your case I would try and keep it under 20.-Chuck>
