The Rio Vaupés – the Spanish spelling – or Rio Uaupes – the Portuguese spelling – is a “small” right-bank tributary of the Rio Negro. After all, the “little one” has a length of 1,375 km! It rises in Colombia in the foothills of the Andes and forms the state border with the Brazilian state […]
The Colombian shark is a wanderer between worlds. It spends its childhood in fresh water, adults live in the sea. The nutrient-rich brackish water zones of the estuaries are particularly favorable habitats for specimens that have outgrown their infancy. These catfish, which belong to the Ariidae family of around 150 species, only have their name […]
Catfish are an incredibly successful group of fish and have conquered practically all freshwater habitats. Only the sea catfish (Ariidae, the only true ornamental fish in this family is the Colombian mini shark) and the eel catfish (Plotosidae) are true marine fish, with around 30 of the 40 or so species of eel catfish regularly […]
Over the decades, we have often witnessed the rise of a new star in the ornamental fish sky. Among the armored catfish, this was undoubtedly Hoplisoma weitzmani, which went from being a sought-after phantom to a species that is now firmly established in the range. Our first posts on this animal appeared in 2007: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/10a-catfishes-corydoras-co/corydoras_weitzmani_en/ […]
Among the small whiptail catfish (Rineloricaria), all of which are cave breeders, there is a group that is particularly well adapted to life on sandy bottoms in black water. They are particularly sought after by catfish specialists due to their attractive spot pattern. What they have in common is a circular, conspicuous spot on their […]
The genus Pimelodella comprises 103 described species, of which 81 are currently considered valid. The size of the Pimelodella species is between 7 and 30 cm. So no species is really huge. The genus is almost exclusively South American, with only one species reported from Central America (Costa Rica and Panama). Identification of the species […]
The devil catfish (Bagarius) is one of the largest representatives of catfish in South and Southeast Asia: giant 2-meter specimens of the Goonch – as the animals are called in India – have been caught. Unfortunately, the systematics of Bagarius are highly confused. Only one species is very well defined and clearly recognizable: B. suchus […]
Already in 1766 this catfish was described by Linné. It is one of the most widespread species in South America. It has been reported from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela. In the course of the centuries many synonyms accumulated: 12 times this species was described under […]
Perhaps the prettiest and at the same time most suitable otocinclus for aquaristics is Parotocinclus haroldoi. Concerning the coloring – yellow-white, shining spots on black underground – the species resembles the adonis pleco (Acanthicus adonis), remains however with maximally 4 cm (male) and at all-highest 5 cm (female) much, much smaller. Until now this species, […]
The Wels catfish or Sheatfish (Silurus glanis) was originally widespread from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, but was artificially introduced by humans as a food fish over large regions. It is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. The current records that are reported speak of animals up to 3 meters long and […]
Hoplisoma knaacki originates from the Madre de Dios region in Peru and belongs to a group of armored catfishes that are very close to the type species of the genus Hoplisoma Swainson, 1838 – H. punctatus (Bloch, 1794). Aquarists are best familiar with the two species H. julii and H. trilineatus from this group, which […]
By far the most popular squeaker catfish (Synodontis) is the upside-down catfish (Synodontis nigriventris). The species comes from the Congo, where it colonizes the central section of the river (including Pool Malebo, the former Stanley Pool); the settlement area also includes the basins of the Kasai, Ubangi and Kouilou-Niari rivers. It is not the only […]
Leiarius pictus is one of the most attractive predatory catfish of all. The large, sail-like dorsal fin in combination with the light-colored band that starts at the base of the dorsal fin and runs diagonally backwards to the belly make it unmistakable. The species is extremely widespread in South America. It has been reported from […]
The characteristics of Brochis sp. “Super Schwartzi Hifin Longnose” are identical to Hoplisoma sp. “Super Schwartzi Hifin CW28”, except that Super Schwartzi Hifin Longnose is a longnose and Super Schwartzi Hifin CW28 is a roundnose. Brochis sp. “Super Schwartzi Hifin Longnose” has usually only appeared in single specimens mixed with the other species from the […]
The characteristics of Brochis sp. “CW28 Longnose” are identical to Hoplisoma sp. “CW28”, but Brochis sp. “CW28 Longnose” is a longnose, CW28 a roundnose. This species is usually sent mixed with CW28, but occasionally also mixed with Brochis pulcher. We have often received this species purely sorted as Brochis pulcher. In the aquarium literature, Brochis […]
The characteristics of Super Schwartzi Hifin CW28 are: Round snout; two thin longitudinal bands, sometimes resolved to dots, running parallel, one above and one below the midline; usually two more thin longitudinal bands are present, so usually four in total; the dorsal fin spine is conspicuously cream-colored; the dorsal fin is conspicuously high in males […]
The characteristics of CW28 are: Round snout; two broad, parallel longitudinal bands on the bony plates, one above and one below the midline; the dorsal fin spine has a conspicuous cream color. The maximum length is 6-6.5 cm (standard length without caudal fin). CW28 has been known in the hobby since the 1960s. A specimen […]
The Rio Purus is one of the major tributaries of the Amazon. Its length is over 3,200 km. The source and upper reaches of the Rio Purus are in Peru, the middle and lower reaches are in Brazil. The Rio Purus is home to numerous ornamental fish, including various armored catfish. A species flock of […]
This well known, but still beautiful Hoplisoma originates from the Rio Purus system in Brazil. It was named in honor of the exporter Willy Schwartz. In Hoplisoma schwartzi, which belongs to the stocky, round-headed members of the genus, the dorsal fin is marked very slightly differently in each animal, the coloration of the spine ranges from […]
One of the most beautiful Ancistrus of all is certainly L107, which – as far as we know – has still not been scientifically studied. It is a pitch-black Ancistrus with snow-white spots, which is also known as the “brilliant Ancistrus” due to its striking contrast. In contrast to many other similar Ancistrus, this species […]
Synodontis eupterus inhabits the White Nile, the Niger and Chad basins and the Volta River. There it is found over mucky and sandy substrate. Nowadays, however, practically all animals in the trade are captive-bred. A striking feature of this catfish, which can grow up to 25 cm long, is its magnificent dorsal fin with elongated […]
It’s been a while – April 2016 – since we were able to proudly report the first import of a Rhadinoloricaria species from Venezuela. Although the genus was already described in 1974, the only species assigned to it in 2016, R. macromystax from Peru, is considered to be very rare. Since our first import, the […]
The fine systematics of the large (over 30 cm) black-striped Panaque is still only unsatisfactorily studied. Panaque nigrolineatus (L190) from Colombia and Venezuela is certainly the best known by name, and in 2020 a subspecies, usually rather spotted, was described from the upper Rio Guaviare in Colombia (P. n. laurafabianae, L330 see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/l330-scientifically-described-panaque-nigrolineatus-laurafabianae/). Aquarists recognized […]
The large-sized species of the spiny catfishes (Pimelodidae) belong as adult fishes to the desired food fishes and not less desired species for fans of predatory catfishes with giant aquariums. As juveniles, these animals often look completely different and have, for example, absurdly long fin processes. The Shovelnose catfishes of the genus Sorubim are with […]
Three magnificent Corydoras species from Peru undoubtedly form a closely related group. They are very pointed-headed and comparatively large (around 6 cm, sometimes up to 8 cm) Corydoras, namely C. fowleri, C. coriatae and C. semiaquilus. The independence of C. coriatae is often doubted, as numerous locality variants of C. fowleri have become known and, […]
We receive these beautiful armored catfish both as captive-bred and wild-caught specimens. Both are currently classified in the genus Hoplisoma. The correct species identification of these animals is still unclear. There are clearly two types, a high-backed one with a very broad dorsal band (duplicareus) and a slimmer one with a narrow dorsal band (adolfoi). […]
Corydoras ambiacus is one of the longest known species of the enormously diverse armored catfish, which has recently been assigned to the genus Brochis in a major review of armored catfish. The species Corydoras ambiacus was formally described from the Rio Ambyiacu in Peru as early as 1872. At that time, only 5 Corydoras species […]
The armored catfish (Callichthyidae) are a species-rich family that occurs exclusively in South America. There are two subfamilies, the callichthyid catfishes (Callichthyinae) and the corydoras-like armored catfishes (Corydoradinae). The latter are particularly species-rich. Currently (June 2024), 231 species are considered to be described, 171 of which are generally recognized as valid; in addition, there are […]
These large predatory catfish from Southeast Asia usually grow to around half a meter in length. The maximum length given for H. wyckioides is up to 130 cm and 86 kg in weight, while “only” around 90 cm is given for H. wyckii. They are important food fish and are highly prized for their excellent […]
There is no consensus among ichthyologists (= fish experts) as to the correct generic name for the whiptail catfish of the narrower Rineloricaria relationship. Some group all species together as Rineloricaria, others divide these fish into Rineloricaria and Hemiloricaria. Rineloricaria in the broadest sense is very species-rich, currently 64 species are recognized and there are […]
Once again we succeeded in importing some specimens of these strange, naturally almost blind banjo catfish, this time from Colombia. For our first import and further information see here: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/10c-catfishes-remaining-catfish-from-south-america/xyliphius-cf-lepturus/ This time there are apparently two species in the import. Unfortunately, only one specimen probably belongs to the species Xyliphius melanopterus, recognizable by the light […]
L102 is one of the plecos that has long been known in the hobby and was given its L number back in 1992. These animals originated from the lower Rio Negro in Brazil and were soon given the popular name “Snowball Pleco” because of the large white spots on a black background. The species was […]
The genus Microglanis consists of small to very small catfish with a maximum length of between 2.5 and 8 cm, depending on the species. All species come from South America. Until 1950, only 6 species were differentiated; currently the number of species is 30, with 17 species alone being described after the year 2000. Only […]
We received Rineloricaria from the Brazil-Uruguay border region. The genus Rineloricaria is extremely species-rich with currently 72 accepted species and new species are constantly being added. Unfortunately, there is no complete overview of the genus, making identification extremely difficult. The southern Rineloricaria are also particularly tricky because only a few live observations have been made […]
In the 1980s, the blue-eyed Panque was one of the most common loricariid catfishes on the market. Incidentally, the correct name is Panaque suttonorum. For unknown reasons, the animals are hardly available nowadays. There are a lot of rumors that an environmental disaster is to blame or that a madman has poisoned the river or […]
We are once again able to offer fully grown Corydoras reticulatus from Peru. C. reticulatus can be easily distinguished from the similar species Corydoras sodalis (see: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/10a-catfishes-corydoras-co/corydoras-sodalis-2/) by the deep black spot on the dorsal fin. The maximum length of C. reticulatus is around 6-7 cm in total, including the caudal fin. The species makes […]
These catfish have their funny name due to the fact that they make croaking sounds when taken out of the water. These sounds are decribed onomatopoeicly as „chaca“ by the natives. Usually Chaca chaca is imported from Bengal; the species is pretty common, but only seldom available, as it is not eaten by the local […]
This close relative of the well-known and popular glass catfish Kryptopterus vitreolus (formerly: K. bicirrhis) is widespread in Southeast Asia. We have now been able to import this pretty species once again from Indonesia. The main difference between the glass catfish and K. macrocephalus is that K. macrocephalus has two dark stripes along the body. […]
Highly sought-after, large, magnificent and rarely on offer: this is Corydoras pantanalensis, which was given the code number C5 before its scientific description. For general information on the species, see here: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/corydoras-pantanalensis-2/ We are very pleased to be able to offer some offspring of this species in the 3-4 cm size. The fish were bred […]
The thorny catfish are a very interesting and diverse group of catfish. Once again we were able to import the slender species Nemadoras elongatus from Peru, which can reach a total length of around 12-15 cm. At first glance, the fish are very reminiscent of the Hassar species, which they also resemble in terms of […]
The thorny catfishes of the genera Doras, Hassar, Hemidoras, Leptodoras, Nemadoras and Tenellus look quite similar at the first glimpse and have often been confused with each other in the past, both in scientific and aquarium literature; accordingly, there are always small question marks behind the identification of rarely imported species. From Colombia we have […]
A few decades ago, the Zamora catfish was the most commonly imported driftwood catfish. At that time it was identified as Auchenipterichthys thoracatus. It was not until 2005 that it was discovered that although the species A. thoracatus exists, it is not identical to the Zamora catfish. Its correct name is Auchenipterichthys coracoideus. While A. […]
At present, only one species of Pseudorinelepis is recognized by scientists, namely P. genibarbis. According to this assumption, the species is widely distributed in tropical South America and occurs in the Amazon and its tributaries as well as in the Orinoco and its catchment system. According to this theory, the color differences observed in living […]
Hardly any other genus of loricariid catfish, often referred to as L-catfish, is as widespread and important in aquariums as Ancistrus. Practically every aquarium is home to a few of these problem-free animals, which do an excellent job of cleaning the glass, look bizarre and hardly disturb other fish. But when it comes to identification […]
The Thorny Catfishes (Doradiae) are a small family of exclusively South American catfish. Currently 41 genera containing 127 species are known, but continuously new species become discovered. The largest species attain a maximum length of more than 100 cm. The world record for Opsodoras niger is 120 cm and a weight of 20 kg. The […]
We can currently offer all three striped Panaque from Colombia, namely L330 Panaque nigrolineatus laurafabianae (Colombia: upper Rio Guaviare drainage), L190 Panaque nigrolineatus nigrolineatus (Colombia/Venezuela: Rio Meta and lower drainage of the Rio Guaviare) and L191 Panaque cf. titan (Colombia: Rio Caguán, drainage of the Rio Caqueta). We have comparable sizes of all three forms […]
From two different suppliers, one from Peru and one from Colombia, we have received a catfish of the genus Batrochoglanis, whose identification to species level is not possible according to the publications to date. Representatives of the genus Batrochoglanis are not difficult to recognize as such; typical of the genus is the shape of the […]
The Rita catfish, Rita rita, is one of the most sought-after food fish in the Ganges-Brahmaputra system in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although the species has a large distribution area and is classified as “least concern” overall, certain local populations are apparently overfished. This species, which reaches a length of up to 150 cm, is […]
The predatory catfish Calophysus macropterus belongs to the medium-sized species of the Pimelodidae (antenna catfish), the largest representatives of which can reach a length of around 2 meters. The largest Calophysus measured to date (there is only one accepted species, C. macropterus) is said to have been approx. 60 cm long, but animals as long […]
We have received a small number of these new, really unusually marked Rineloricaria sp. Jacareacanga – named after the place where they were found on the Rio Tapajós. Many thanks to Ingo Seidel for the information on the origin of these catfish! Our largest animals are about 15 cm long. They are real beauties, who […]
Currently we have wonderful flounder whiptail catfish from Peru in stock. They are currently 10-13 cm long. These sizes give only the body length, as in Planiloricaria there is a filament on the upper lobe of the caudal fin that is as long as the body! Maximum length given in literature is 35 cm. Nevertheless, […]
For the first time ever we obtained a species of Batasio from North Bengal in India. They belong to the species Batasio fasciolatus, which was described scientifically only in 2006. One can see that the determination of species of Batasio is not that easy keeping in mind that B. fasciolatus was already subject of an […]
In the huge variety of species of Corydoras, four species stand out in particular due to their bright orange pectoral and dorsal fin spines: Corydoras sterbai, the associated long-snouted C. haraldschultzi, C. gossei and its long-snouted counterpart C. seussi. We aquarists are naturally delighted by this sight, but we should not forget that these are […]
This beautiful loricariid catfish was already scientifically described in 1941. The type locality is the drainage of the Rio Jaguaribe in the Brazilian state of Ceará in the north-east of the country. The maximum length published to date is around 13 cm (10 cm without caudal fin). The Rio Jaguaribe is notorious for its erratic […]
The genus Spatuloricaria comprises currently 11 accepted species. Members of this genus are large, splendid whiptail cats. There is probably no species that stays smaller than 30 cm in length, some become definitely larger. This means that the fish have to be kept in large aquaria. Spatuloricaria are sensitive against poor water quality. Thus a […]
The large, wood-eating Panaque species have their loyal fans. Although these animals only reach us in relatively small numbers, they have been on offer from exporters for decades. This includes L90, the variably colored Panaque bathyphilus from Peru, which can easily reach a body length of 60 cm in old age. We have reported on […]
It has been almost 20 years since we were able to offer this beautiful armored catfish from Brazil. Corydoras sarareensis, which was given its species name after the Rio Sarare from which it originates, was only scientifically described in 1995. Prior to this, the species was known as “C23” in the hobby. The Rio Sarare […]
It’s hard to believe, but this striking and large catfish – the species reaches a final length of approx. 85 cm – which is also widely distributed in Amazonia (Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil) was only discovered in 1981! It was described in the genus Merodontotus, which was created especially for it, but is now […]
The beautiful Corydoras sychri from Peru – it lives in the Rio Nanay – is unfortunately only occasionally available. We currently have very nice, large specimens in stock. There are some species that can be confused with C. sychri. The best known is C. atropersonatus, which also comes to us from the Rio Nanay. C. […]
The Bronze Corydoras, Corydoras aeneus, is – this may be surprising – very poorly researched. We know armored catfishes that roughly correspond in appearance to C. aeneus from practically all of South America, we also know the appearance of animals from Trinidad (the place from which C. aeneus was scientifically described). We know that Bronze […]
The beautiful L82 originates from the lower Rio Xingu in Brazil (around Altamira). The species is very variable in terms of spot size and shape. Wild-caught specimens also often have a yellowish-orange spot coloration or shiny green-blue spots (“Opal-Pleco”). A few days ago (on October 30, 2023), the species, which received its L-number back in […]
Albinism, i.e. the complete or partial absence of black color pigments in the body cells, occurs widely as a mutation in the animal kingdom. While albinos rarely survive in the wild because of their striking light color, they are particularly popular in commonly bred animals. On many people albinos seem very attractive. The species Rineloricaria […]
Among the loricariid catfishes that are known by scientists for a very long time already is this species. It has been described initially 1840 under the name of Hypostomus emarginatus. Since then it has been placed in different genera, in 2001 in Squaliforma and in 2016 in Aphanotorulus, when Squaliforma has been considered to be […]
From Peru we could import this interesting catfish, which is only rarely available, although the species has a very wide distribution in South America. The up to 30-35 cm long fish has already been reported from the whole Amazon region and from the Guyana countries. Zoologically Goeldiella eques belongs to the family Heptapteridae; there are […]
Since many decades Corydoras catfishes are sold from Colombia under the fancy name “Corydoras deckeri”. Where this name comes from is not documented, probably there was once an exporter named Decker, but nobody knows about him today. The “Corydoras deckeri” come from the Rio Meta. Behind the name there are four different Corydoras species: Corydoras […]
The bristlemouth catfish (Chaetostoma) are an exceptionally diverse genus of suckermouth armored catfishes. According to Fishbase (2023), 47 species are currently considered valid. From Colombia, more precisely from the surroundings of the city of Villavicencio, the capital of the department of Meta, Chaetostoma have been exported for decades as common “bread-and-butter fish”. However, it was […]
This small catfish, unique in its combination of characteristics, originates from Peru. There it was collected (scientifically) for the first time in 1984 in a small tributary of the Rio Nanay, which had sandy bottom covered with debris (probably dead wood, dead leaves etc). The scientific description was then in 1999 as Myoglanis koepckei. In […]
There are three forms of orange fringed plecos among L catfishes, namely L76 (tributaries of Rio do Pará, Brazil), L99 (also tributaries of Rio do Pará, Brazil), and L265 (Rio Tajajós and its tributary Rio Jamanxin, Brazil). Thus, all sites are located within the state of Pará. L265 has also received LDA number 84 after […]
From the upper Amazonas drainage in Peru we regularly receive the beautiful emerald catfish, Brochis splendens. From this region no less than four synonyms of this armored catfish, distributed in three genera (Brochis, Chaenothorax and Corydoras) were described by the famous biologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897)! This shows very clearly how different the fish can […]
This cute corydoras is relatively new. It was scientifically described only in 2007. In the hobby it was known a bit longer as “Loreto Panda”, “New Panda” and under the code number CW31. The CW-numbers are assigned on the homepage of Ian Fuller (https://www.corydorasworld.com/). The complete distribution of the pretty species is not yet known. […]
The extremely great popularity of the Corydoras in aquaristics is certainly due to the combination of peacefulness, usefulness and nice appearance that these fish combine. They all have these characteristics, and so you really can’t go far wrong when it comes to deciding which species to choose for your aquarium. But there are subtle differences […]
The genus Brachyplatystoma is called “Goliath Catfishes” in English, because some of its species belong to the largest freshwater fishes at all: up to 3.6 m length are given in literature! In South America they are ubiquitous and important food fish, of which more than 30,000 tons are consumed annually. Nevertheless, distinguishing the species is […]
The Rio Vaupés – so the Spanish spelling – or Rio Uaupes – that is the Portuguese one – is a “small” right tributary of the Rio Negro. After all, the “little one” has a length of 1,375 km! It rises in Colombia in the foothills of the Andes and forms the state border with […]
The great hype surrounding L catfish has long since given way to normal handling of these beautiful and interesting fish. One of the enduringly popular species is Baryancistrus xanthellus, which entered the hobby under L numbers L18, L81 and L177. The species is common and frequent in the Rio Xingu and its tributaries. Nevertheless, it […]
At the moment we have one of the most beautiful corydoras from Peru in our stock, which contributed with the number “C4” more than 25 years ago to create a real corydoras boom. The species is one of the distinct schooling fishes within the genus Corydoras. In addition, C. virginiae is a very lively species, […]
The “four-striped Ancistrus” L267 is still a somewhat mysterious species. Even if the first specimen became known already in 1996, this Ancistrus always remained a top rarity in the trade and was not available at all for years. Even the origin remained unknown until now. We get the fish from an exporter in Peru, who […]
Now is the season for the southern dwarf cory Corydoras hastatus. We get this cute Corydoras, which grows to about 2-3 cm long, from Paraguay. In contrast to most other Corydoras, C. hastatus is less bottom bound. He swims just as gladly in the free water. Often schools of C. hastatus are mixed with several […]
In recent years many highly interesting catfish species ideally suited for aquaristics have been discovered from Asia and imported for aquarists. The first species of the genus Pseudolaguvia were described already in 1927, but only recently it was recognized that this is a very species-rich genus of dwarf catfishes, which usually grow only about 2-3 […]
Albinos occur in all animal species, including humans. Due to a mutation they lack the ability to form black pigments completely or partially. In nature, albinos are extremely rare, because they are too conspicuous and thus quickly become the victim of predators, in human care albinos occur sooner or later in all animal species. Since […]
For the first time we could import this cute dwarf catfish from Peru. In the scientific literature the maximum size is given as 3,6 cm (without caudal fin). It is absolutely incomprehensible, why this attractively striped fish (however, there are numerous individual colour morphs from banded to almost completely black, some animals are also of […]
We could import some specimens of the pretty white fringed flying catfish Pseudolithoxus nicoi from Venezuela. This very rarely available species grows to a length of about 12 cm. P. nicoi originates from the Rio Casiquiare, which connects the Rio Negro with the Orinoco. There is great similarity to P. anthrax (L235), which is why […]
From Paraguay we received a nice shipment of mouthbrooding whiptail catfishes (Loricaria). Because of the known difficulties to identify species in Loricaria exactly, we first named them provisionally as L. simillima, the aquaristic best known species of the genus, which also occurs in Paraguay. Now that the animals are somewhat acclimated and also the latest […]
From Peru we could import some Lamontichthys filamentosus. This graceful, beautiful species reaches a body length of about 20 cm, the fin filaments can become even that long. Lamontichthys are very sensitive fish, which need optimal water conditions. In addition, the fish are often difficult to bring to the food. Obviously they are very shy […]
From the Rio Xingu in Brazil we have received frog catfishes, which are assigned to the species Batrochoglanis villosus. Batrochoglanis was previously placed with Pseudopimelodus. More recent work has divided the frog catfishes into a whole series of genera, which makes it difficult to see through, especially since many species from different genera look darn […]
Just as indeterminate sucker catfishes (Loricaridae) receive L and LDA numbers, indeterminate armored catfishes (Corydoras) receive C and CW numbers. The very first C-number assigned was given in 1992 by Werner Seuß to a Corydoras from the upper Rio Negro (Rio Icana). This fish is remarkable in many ways, but the most striking is: there […]
From Venezuela we could import this pretty and lively thorny catfish. The species is widespread in South America and reaches a length of about 18 cm. In behavior these diurnal catfishes resemble the Corydoras species; however, they are much more active swimmers and constantly on the move in the aquarium. They are peaceful, sociable animals. […]
For a long time there were very different ideas among ichthyologists about the generic classification of the thorny catfishes. Aquaristically mainly the genera Doras, Hassar, Hemidoras, Leptodoras, Tenellus and Anduzedoras cause classification problems due to their similar appearance and relatively few useful color characteristics. Fortunately, this has little practical impact because they are all fairly […]
From the Rio Nanay in Peru comes this beautiful spotted armored catfish, which probably belongs to a scientifically undescribed species. It was first mentioned and pictured in aquaristic literature as Corydoras punctatus in the 1930s, but C. punctatus is a completely different species that looks similar to C. julii. Later, the “Nanay” was sometimes assigned […]
From Indonesia we received the interesting catfish Pseudeutropius moolenburghae. This shoaling fish, which grows to a maximum length of 10 cm, is very similar in behavior to the well-known glass catfish Kryptopterus vitreolus (formerly known as K. bicirrhis), but is slimmer, livelier and above all has eight long barbels, while the glass catfish has only […]
The long-nosed Corydoras treitlii from the lower Amazon – specimens caught for export mostly come from the Belem area – is one of the real rarities in the trade, although the species is one of the longest known armored catfishes. It was scientifically described already in 1906. With over 7 cm maximum length C. treitlii […]
The large wood-eating Panaque of the relationship around P. nigrolineatus are fantastic fishes. Juveniles are almost splendidly colored, so also L191, a species which is still not described scientifically. L191 originates from Colombia. According to the available information the native area is the Rio Caguán in Caquetá. Particularly splendid is with young L191 the green […]
The splendid Corydoras sterbai probably knows every aquarist child. As one of the most beautiful corydoras at all it belongs to the standard offer of the pet trade and is bred in large quantities; there is also an albino breeding form, which does not occur in the wild. Wild Corydoras sterbai from the Rio Guaporé […]
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 […]
Only very rarely this beautiful, long-snouted Corydoras reaches us, because the catch areas are far away from the usual routes. The species was scientifically described only in 1980, but it is known much longer. Because already in 1972 during the examination of the Corydoras material of the species Corydoras oiapoquensis it was noticed that beside round-nosed animals (these are the “real” Corydoras oiapoquensis) there are also long-nosed fish. At first it was thought at that time that this was the natural variability, but in 1980 it was decided to separate the long-nosed as a separate species Corydoras condiscipulus.
These two armored catfishes occur together in the Rio Oyapock in French Guyana; the species name condiscipulus means „schoolmate” because the two species swim together. There are hardly any ornamental fish exports from French Guyana; it is usually too expensive. But fortunately the Oyapock also flows in neighboring Brazil (state of Amapa) and so specimens from there come to us from time to time. By the way: we also received C. oiapoquensis, maybe more about that later…
For our customers: the animals have code 226105 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
From Paraguay we regularly receive shipments of the small whiptail catfishes of the genus Rineloricaria. No less than 65 species are currently recognized, which makes identification in many cases almost impossible without knowledge of the origin. But in the case of Paraguay, there is a recent revision of the species known from this river system […]
Among the large antenna catfishes (Pimelodidae) Pimelodus pictus belongs to the dwarfs. Scientifically proven are 11-12 cm length, but in the aquarium, where these fish can become very old, also 25 cm are said to have occurred. In nature these fishes probably do not live longer than 2-3 years, the keeping record in the aquarium […]
We have received very nice offsprings of L75, which are currently 6-8 cm (26480-L 075x-2) and 10-12 cm (26480-L 075x-4) long. Here the report of the breeder, for which we thank very much:
Breeding report Ancistomus cf. sabaji L75
Until breeding L75 was a long way. I tried it for seven years with two groups. It turned out: patience is always the key to success with difficult plecos.
L75 is a pleco that has fascinated me for some time, so I was happy when I got three adults (two males and one female) in 2014. I had no success with this group, but six years later, in 2020, I bought seven more. Things went very quickly with this group. Several of the males showed interest in the caves, and I was happy to soon find one on a large clutch. The fight for the cave with other males stressed the brooding animal quite a bit, and after 3 days he threw the clutch out of the cave.
I managed to recover about fifty eggs, but because of a fungus, only six hatched, all of which fortunately survived. Later I removed four adults, so I ended up with the breeding male and two presumed females. Further reproduction now went very well, with the male mating with both females and taking care of the eggs and young, this time without disturbance.
The adults are 20-25 cm and are fed an insect-based diet with some fresh fish and mussels. Soft, neutral water, 28-30 degrees Celsius. The number of eggs per clutch was 150-250, depending on the size of the female. The fry grow very well on a varied diet under the same conditions, are gray at first and get the leopard pattern at about 3 cm. All in all, due to its more active behavior compared to other plecos, L75 is a very entertaining species whose care and breeding can only be recommended.
Knut Hatteland Sømme
The genus Parotocinclus currently exists in a kind of shadowy existence in aquaristics. In contrast to their cousins of the genus Otocinclus, hardly anyone knows these equally small loricariids, which are, however, equally zealous algae exterminators. We have received from the Northeast region (Região Nordeste), more precisely from the states of Cereá and Bahia of […]
This pretty, at most 5 cm long corydoras wandered for many years under different names through the aquariums, until it was finally described in 1997 by Steven Grant as an independent species: Corydoras kanei. Unfortunately the description is flawed by the fact that the type specimens came from the trade and therefore the type locality […]
There is a saying: “The Internet forgets nothing”. This may be true, but books are even more durable, especially if errors have been printed in them. These are often so stubborn that one could almost despair. This is what happened to a very pretty armored catfish that occurs in huge numbers in the tri-border area […]
