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 smallest species – Physopyxis lyra –becomes only 3.5 cm long. Most species attain a maximum length between 10 and 20 cm.
Pterodoras granulosus from Peru is a large species, which can become around 70 cm long. However, we obtained juveniles of 7-10 cm. This species is as peaceful as any species of thorny catfish, but one should keep in mind that the fish has a large mouth and smaller fish will vanish there of course…
For our customers: the fish have code 286583 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
