The whiptail catfishes belong to the popular and well breedable loricariids. For example, the Real Royal Farlowella (Sturisomatichthys festivus) has been in continuous breeding for almost 50 years, wild catches of this species are very rare. For other species, wild catches and offspring coexist in the hobby.
In former times Sturisomatichthys was considered to mainly one species, the relatively small S. leightoni, while the other, larger species were counted to Sturisoma. Today it is different, almost all aquaristic important species of these catfishes are in Sturisomatichthys. The designations Sturisomatichthys sp. Colombia I and S. sp. Colombia II originate from the earlier times. At that time it was found that S. leightoni was almost never exported from Colombia, but two very similar other species, which have not yet been described scientifically. In respect of coloration Colombia I and Colombia II hardly differ. Colombia II, however, already as a relatively small fish, has many skin teeth (odontodes), i.e. bristles. In the import trade are mostly animals of the species Colombia I, which is also much bred.
We have now received German offspring of the original strain Colombia II from a breeder. The pretty animals have indeed already in the relatively small size, in which we can offer them (6-8 cm, the final size is around 10-15 cm) clear bristles, which can be seen best in the photo of the animal sucked at the front glass.
For our customers: the fish have code 294452 on our stock list. Please note that we supply only wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
