Phractocephalus hemioliopterus • Pimelodidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish

Juvenile
Amelanistic form
Dorsal view
Adult
Close-up of platinum colour form
Adult, Rio Apure, Venezuela
Adults in cramped quarters at retailers
Amelanistic form
Close-up of head
Juvenile
Head on view of juvenile
Adult
Sub-adult
Video underwater
Fin degradation due to poor water conditions
Gill curl due to poor water conditions
Platinum colour form
Stamp

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Phractocephalus hemioliopterus** (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Common Name(s)	Banana Catfish, Rtc (English, Abbreviation), South American Red Tailed Catfish
Type Locality	Rio Maranham, Brazil.
Synonym(s)	Phractocephalus bicolor, Silurus hemioliopterus
Etymology	(Greek)Phraktos=Fence + (Greek)kephale=head.
Species Information
Size	1100mm (43.3") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	An unmistakable species - the only identification woes come when examining young hybrids which appear in the hobby from time to time. The amelanistic form (absence of pigmentation but no albino pink eyes) is only found in young fish and only lasts for a few weeks. The fish revert to their normal colouration thereafter.
Sexing	Unknown, although the tail colour (which varies between red and orange / pink) and darkness of the top of the head (which varies from black to grey with black spots) vary from fish to fish. These are more likely to be due to diet and mood than sexual differences.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Throughout the Amazon system; Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru. Amazon (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
pH	6.5 - 7.5
Temperature	21.0-26.0°C or 69.8-78.8°F (Show others within this range)
Husbandry Information
Feeding	The important fact in feeding these fish isn't what it's when. Red tails should only be fed sporadically. Once fed they become sluggish and so the time to feed a red tail can be gauged by the activity of the fish. It will become permanently active when hungry. Over-feeding can be disastrous and is a common cause of death in these fish. In the wild the fish eat fallen fruit, crustaceans and fish.
Furniture	The fish does not require cover although subdued lighting should be utilised. Aquarium decor and equipment should be selected and deployed for it's own care rather than that of the red-tail. Thus the required heavy external filtration and out-of-tank heating are recommended. Red tails are renowned for swallowing items within their tanks (I.E. heater clips, filter intakes etc.); gladly these are often regurgitated but can sometimes cause serious problems for the fish. The best policy is to have as much as possible outside the aquarium.
Compatibility	This fish is territorial within confined spaces and is certainly capable of killing other tankmates. Best kept 'home alone' unless a very large aquarium is to be provided.
Suggested Tankmates	Given sufficient space (and we are talking small ponds here or public aquaria) the fish can be successfully mixed with other large Pimelodids, Doradids, Cichlids and Characins.
Breeding	Impossible within the confines of an aquarium. Commercial breeding as food fish is practiced in South America, a spin off from which are the aforementioned imports of 'kittens'. Aquaculture has also given us hybrids of Red tails and Tiger Shovelnose (Pseudoplatystoma sp.) Also shown above is the inappropriately named white red tail which is very uncommon indeed.
Further Information
References	Systema Ichthyol. - pp385
Registered Keepers	(1) arapaima, (2) Lornek8, (3) husky_jim, (4) roy.bryan, (5) bukster, (6) kntrygrl4lyfe (p: 2), (7) Rob Heydon, (8) RedTail Cat (p: 2), (9) Simonh1, (10) steelhead99, (11) Jeox, (12) SuperLaz, (13) Matt123, (14) necrocanis, (15) vyperboy, (16) blurock, who also notes: "Name: Cooter", (17) doesdavid, (18) pmbooper, who also notes: "10 inch red tail in 1000 gal.", (19) smegforbrains, (20) RedTailMike, (21) Arherp, (22) tezr, (23) dean30bb, (24) jprp, (25) ndcp18, (26) Redtailrob, (27) EVK5, (28) 0210Miyo, (29) Djthomas, (30) steve_ansell1, (31) miles3 (p: 2), (32) Bimmerboy12, (33) Mqktandy, (34) TheFishGuy, (35) robb harriston, (36) highoctane500, (37) clarenas, (38) gdc7688, (39) Benjamin Goh, (40) arapaimag (k: 10), (41) kennethqc (p: 2), (42) Seagirt, who also notes: "Lives up to it's reputation as a big eater. Seems to get along well with everyone else in the pond and generally sits at the bottom after it's eaten.", (43) ROV1, who also notes: "Eats everything taking by hand now", (44) maximus1974, (45) freshfishing. Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species. Add this species to your "my cats" page.
Breeding Reports	None.
More Resources	- CotM 2000 January - Search Planet Catfish for more on Phractocephalus hemioliopterus - BBcode (for use in linking to this page from forum posts) - Look up Phractocephalus hemioliopterus on AquaticRepublic.com - Look up Phractocephalus hemioliopterus on Fishbase, I.T.I.S. or ispecies search. - URL (for use in linking to the species from anywhere on the web)
Hits	57411 hits.
Last Update	2011 Aug 09 07:26 (species record created: 2001 Apr 22 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Phractocephalus hemioliopterus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Common Name(s)

Banana Catfish, Rtc (English, Abbreviation), South American Red Tailed Catfish

Type Locality

Rio Maranham, Brazil.

Synonym(s)

Phractocephalus bicolor, Silurus hemioliopterus

Etymology

(Greek)Phraktos=Fence + (Greek)kephale=head.

Species Information

Size

1100mm (43.3") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.

Identification

An unmistakable species - the only identification woes come when examining young hybrids which appear in the hobby from time to time. The amelanistic form (absence of pigmentation but no albino pink eyes) is only found in young fish and only lasts for a few weeks. The fish revert to their normal colouration thereafter.

Sexing

Unknown, although the tail colour (which varies between red and orange / pink) and darkness of the top of the head (which varies from black to grey with black spots) vary from fish to fish. These are more likely to be due to diet and mood than sexual differences.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Throughout the Amazon system; Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru.
Amazon (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)

6.5 - 7.5

Temperature

21.0-26.0°C or 69.8-78.8°F (Show others within this range)

Husbandry Information

Feeding

The important fact in feeding these fish isn't what it's when. Red tails should only be fed sporadically. Once fed they become sluggish and so the time to feed a red tail can be gauged by the activity of the fish. It will become permanently active when hungry. Over-feeding can be disastrous and is a common cause of death in these fish. In the wild the fish eat fallen fruit, crustaceans and fish.

Furniture

The fish does not require cover although subdued lighting should be utilised. Aquarium decor and equipment should be selected and deployed for it's own care rather than that of the red-tail. Thus the required heavy external filtration and out-of-tank heating are recommended. Red tails are renowned for swallowing items within their tanks (I.E. heater clips, filter intakes etc.); gladly these are often regurgitated but can sometimes cause serious problems for the fish. The best policy is to have as much as possible outside the aquarium.

Compatibility

This fish is territorial within confined spaces and is certainly capable of killing other tankmates. Best kept 'home alone' unless a very large aquarium is to be provided.

Suggested Tankmates

Given sufficient space (and we are talking small ponds here or public aquaria) the fish can be successfully mixed with other large Pimelodids, Doradids, Cichlids and Characins.

Breeding

Impossible within the confines of an aquarium. Commercial breeding as food fish is practiced in South America, a spin off from which are the aforementioned imports of 'kittens'. Aquaculture has also given us hybrids of Red tails and Tiger Shovelnose (Pseudoplatystoma sp.) Also shown above is the inappropriately named white red tail which is very uncommon indeed.

Further Information

References

Systema Ichthyol. - pp385

Registered Keepers

(1) arapaima, (2) Lornek8, (3) husky_jim, (4) roy.bryan, (5) bukster, (6) kntrygrl4lyfe (p: 2), (7) Rob Heydon, (8) RedTail Cat (p: 2), (9) Simonh1, (10) steelhead99, (11) Jeox, (12) SuperLaz, (13) Matt123, (14) necrocanis, (15) vyperboy, (16) blurock, who also notes: "Name: Cooter", (17) doesdavid, (18) pmbooper, who also notes: "10 inch red tail in 1000 gal.", (19) smegforbrains, (20) RedTailMike, (21) Arherp, (22) tezr, (23) dean30bb, (24) jprp, (25) ndcp18, (26) Redtailrob, (27) EVK5, (28) 0210Miyo, (29) Djthomas, (30) steve_ansell1, (31) miles3 (p: 2), (32) Bimmerboy12, (33) Mqktandy, (34) TheFishGuy, (35) robb harriston, (36) highoctane500, (37) clarenas, (38) gdc7688, (39) Benjamin Goh, (40) arapaimag (k: 10), (41) kennethqc (p: 2), (42) Seagirt, who also notes: "Lives up to it's reputation as a big eater. Seems to get along well with everyone else in the pond and generally sits at the bottom after it's eaten.", (43) ROV1, who also notes: "Eats everything taking by hand now", (44) maximus1974, (45) freshfishing.

Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.

Add this species to your My Cats species list

Add this species to your "my cats" page.

Breeding Reports

None.

More Resources

- CotM

2000

January

- Search Planet Catfish for more on Phractocephalus hemioliopterus
Link

- BBcode (for use in linking to this page from forum posts)
Look up AquaticRepublic.com

- Look up Phractocephalus hemioliopterus on AquaticRepublic.com
Look up Fishbase

- Look up Phractocephalus hemioliopterus on Fishbase, I.T.I.S. or ispecies search.
Link

- URL (for use in linking to the species from anywhere on the web)

Hits

57411 hits.

Last Update

2011 Aug 09 07:26 (species record created: 2001 Apr 22 00:00)

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