Among the driftwood catfishes are some quite attractive coloured species. This is a bit astonishing, for these catfishes are usually strictly night active and hide during daytimes in caves or crevices. However, well settled animals usually come out of their wholes at feeding times in the aquarium.
Trachelyopterichthys taeniatus belongs to the really attractive species. It is not a small fish, but attains a total length of about 15 cm. This is worth knowning, for small fish, like cardinals, are among the common food items of the catfish. Otherwise it is peaceful against tankmates. In T. taeniatus an internal insemination appears. For that reason in males the first rays of the anal fin are modified. The eggs are laid later without the males. As far as we know this pretty fish has not been bred yet under aquarium conditions, but this may simply be due the fact that it is only very rarely offered. Currently we have some very nice about halfgrown specimens from Venezuela in stock.
For our customers: the fish have code 297503 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
