The glass catfishes of the genus Kryptopterus are close relatives of the Wels catfish (Silurus glanis). However, in contrast to this giant among the freshwater fishes (Wels catfish can attain a length of up to 2 meteres), the glass catfishes stay small. The largest species known so far (K. cheveyi from the Mekong basin) becomes about 35 cm long. However, this species has not been imported yet for home aquaria.
The biodiversity in Kryptopterus has been discovered only recently. Currently 19 species are recognized, 7 of them have been described after the turn of the millenium. Among these late discoveries is the most common glass catfish in the hobby, Kryptopterus vitreolus, which is “the” glass catfish in pet shops all over the world. This species becomes only 6-8 cm long and has been misidentified over 80 years as K. bicirrhis or K. minor. For more informations on that topic, please see http://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/archiv.php?news_id=700.
Kryptopterus geminus also belongs to the late discoveries and has been described as separate species only in 2003. Before that it was thought to represent a population of Kryptopterus cryptopterus. The latter is restricted to the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, whereas K. geminus inhabits the large river basins of the mainland of Southeast Asia: Mekong, Mae Khlong, Bang Pakong and Chao Phraya. In contrast to K. vitreolus K. geminus is less deep in body and has a strong, blue-silver tinge on the sides. K. geminus attains a maximum length of about 15-20 cm and so it fits perfectly for larger aquaria.
For our customers: the fish have code 422104 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Kryptopterus: means “with hidden fin”, this refers to the very small dorsal fin. geminus: means “twin born”, this refers to the strong resemblance to K. cryptopterus.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Thailand |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 8-12 |
