We don´t always get what we want. Initially we ordered the Malayan Giant Catfish Wallago leerii for one of our customers. But we received a species of Ompok from our Singapore supplier instead. However, this error is understandable. Even professional scientists have in the past confused both genera quite often and described a number of (now) Ompok-species as members of Wallago. Nevertheless the error of our supplier is an advantage for us, for Ompok are very interesting and hardly ever available catfish.
First a short note how to distinguish Wallago and Ompok: Wallago has always 5 rays in the dorsal fin, Ompok always 4. This can be easily seen on our photos.
Ompok belongs, like glass catfish (Kryptopterus), Giant Catfish (Wallago) and Wels catfish (Silurus) to the family Siluridae. Maximum length in most species of Ompok is around 15 cm, only O. bimaculatus from India is said to reach up to 45 cm.
The determination of the species is not easy in our fish, for we known nothing about the origin of our specimens. There are not less than 27 valid species of Ompok and most of them look extremely similar to each other. Nevertheless we think that our fish most likely belong to the species Ompok fumidus, which has a wide distribution over the Malaian Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Riau Island and Thailand. O. fumidus becomes only about 15 cm long (the largest reported specimen had 145 mm without the tail fin). It is usually found in shallow brooks with peat water. In our fishhouse the fish proofed to be very peaceful, but, however, small fish will serve as food.
All in all Omopok cf. fumidus is a very interesting new importation. This “Wels catfish en miniature” enables even aquarists with comparatively small tanks to keep this type of catfish.
For our customers: the fish have code 439763 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade. Available in very small numbers only!
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Singapur / Singapore |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 10-12 |
