Until
recently only two species of Auchenoglanis were commonly accepted,
namely A. biscutatus and A. occidentalis. This changed with the revision
of Retzer (2010), who recognizes eight different species. In the Congo
the genus is represented by Auchenoglanis wittei, which can be easily
identified by the “reticulated giraffe”-pattern of the body. However,
this is the species most commonly referred to as A. occidentalis in
aquarium literature (the”real” A. occidentalis is spotted as juvenile
and uniformly brown as adult; it occurs in the Senegal, Casamange, and
Gambia rivers and is not imported as a aquarium fish). So it will most
probably take a lot of time until the correct determination will be
known by hobbyists.
Auchenoglanis
wittei is a very peaceful and attractive catfish, but one should keep
in mind that it attains at least a length of about 30 cm. So it is
suited only for large aquaria in along-time sight. Our juvenile imports
are currently 5-7 cm long.
For our customers: the fish have code 100302 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
