The Catfish Families • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish &bull

Cat-eLog The Catfish Families
*'Carpe Diem* '** does not mean 'fish of the day'! Often the mere sight of Latin combined into pairs of tongue twisting scientific names laid out before the hobbyist will cause them, if unfamiliar with this form of organization, to recoil in horror or at best throw up their hands in exasperation. That said, this form of classification remains the best we have and is often useful in getting the basics right for the care of a certain fish. In an attempt to help, we present here an introductory guide to catfish families. The descending order of this list loosely corresponds to the availability of the species. Notes are given about some of the features used to tell different families apart, click here if you need some help with these anatomical terms. In addition if you're not to sure about classification (terms like family, species, genus etc) click here. For an excellent introduction / overview, check out this article, failing all that, try the glossary.
1.	LORICARIIDAE Suckermouth Armoured Catfishes Show LORICARIIDAE species
2.	CALLICHTHYIDAE Armoured Catfishes Show CALLICHTHYIDAE species
3.	PIMELODIDAE South American Antennae Catfishes Show PIMELODIDAE species
4.	MOCHOKIDAE Upside Down Catfish Show MOCHOKIDAE species
5.	DORADIDAE Talking Catfishes Show DORADIDAE species
6.	BAGRIDAE Asian Antennae Catfishes Show BAGRIDAE species
7.	AUCHENIPTERIDAE Driftwood Catfishes Show AUCHENIPTERIDAE species
8.	PSEUDOPIMELODIDAE Show PSEUDOPIMELODIDAE species
9.	CLARIIDAE Walking Catfish Show CLARIIDAE species
10.	SISORIDAE Asian Hill-Stream Catfishes Show SISORIDAE species
11.	ARIIDAE Sea Catfishes Show ARIIDAE species
12.	ASPREDINIDAE Banjo Catfishes Show ASPREDINIDAE species
13.	SILURIDAE Sheath Catfishes Show SILURIDAE species
14.	ICTALURIDAE North American Catfishes Show ICTALURIDAE species
15.	AMBLYCIPITIDAE Loach Catfishes Show AMBLYCIPITIDAE species
16.	PANGASIIDAE Shark Catfishes Show PANGASIIDAE species
17.	AKYSIDAE Asian Stream Catfishes Show AKYSIDAE species
18.	CLAROTEIDAE Claroteid Catfishes Show CLAROTEIDAE species
19.	AMPHILIIDAE African Hillstream Catfishes Show AMPHILIIDAE species
20.	SCHILBEIDAE Schilbe Catfishes Show SCHILBEIDAE species
21.	HEPTAPTERIDAE Show HEPTAPTERIDAE species
22.	CETOPSIDAE Whale Catfishes Show CETOPSIDAE species
23.	PLOTOSIDAE Eel Tailed Catfish Show PLOTOSIDAE species
24.	ANCHARIIDAE Madagascan Catfishes Show ANCHARIIDAE species
25.	MALAPTERURIDAE Electric Catfishes Show MALAPTERURIDAE species
26.	ERETHISTIDAE Moth Catfish Show ERETHISTIDAE species
27.	CHACIDAE Frogmouth Catfishes Show CHACIDAE species
28.	TRICHOMYCTERIDAE Parasitic Catfish Show TRICHOMYCTERIDAE species
29.	ASTROBLEPIDAE South American Hillstream Catfish Show ASTROBLEPIDAE species
30.	LACANTUNIIDAE Chaipas Catfish Show LACANTUNIIDAE species
31.	SCOLOPLACIDAE Spiny Dwarf Catfishes Show SCOLOPLACIDAE species
32.	HYPSIDORIDAE Show HYPSIDORIDAE species
33.	DIPLOMYSTIDAE Patagonian Catfishes Show DIPLOMYSTIDAE species
34.	CRANOGLANIDIDAE Armour head Catfish, Chinese Catfish Show CRANOGLANIDIDAE species
35.	NEMATOGENYIDAE Worm Catfishes Show NEMATOGENYIDAE species
36.	HORABAGRIDAE Show HORABAGRIDAE species