Clarias batrachus • Clariidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish

Mottled or Piebald form
Mottled Colour Form
Video
Wild caught
Dorsal view - mottled colouration
Close-up of head
Wild caught
Male
Female
Pair at the spawning site
Courtship
Courtship
Male (foreground) and sub-dominant female
Courtship
Courtship
Air breathing at water surface
Nest digging
Nest digging
Nest digging
Nest digging
Spawning embrace
Spawning embrace
Spawning embrace
Spawning embrace
Spawning embrace
Male at its favourite place in front of a cave
Spawning
Spawning
Spawning
Eggs in spawning pit
Female immediately before spawning
Female immediately after spawning
Newly hatched fry
Older fry, note barbles
Male guarding fry
Defending the nest
Eggs
Oscars are good tankmates
Three albinos!
Feeding at night on cichlid sticks
Close-up of male genital area
Close-up of female genital area
Stamp
Adult - Normal Colouration
Rio Xingu
Male piebald
Female albino
Laying eggs
Dorsal view (male)
Dorsal view (female)
Heavily gravid female
Video

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Clarias batrachus** (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common Name(s)	Common Walking Catfish, Walking Catfish
Type Locality	Asia.
Synonym(s)	Clarias assamensis, Clarias assamensis, Clarias punctatus, Silurus batrachus, Silurus batrachus
Pronunciation	klar ee ass - bat rah chus
Etymology	Clarias: From the Greek chlaros, meaning lively; in reference to the ability of the fish to live for long periods out of water.
Species Information
Size	400mm (15.7") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Clarias species are characterized by having an elongated body; a soft rayed dorsal fin extending to, or nearly to, the caudal fin base; a soft rayed anal fin extending from just behind the anus to the caudal fin base; pectoral fins each with a serrated anterior bony spine; head depressed, covered largely by firmly sutured, surface sculptured bony plates forming a protective helmet; four pairs of flagellate barbels (nasals, maxillaries, inner and outer mandibulars); air breathing organs derived from the 2nd and 4th epibranchials within a superbranchial chamber. Shown above are the mottled or marbled colour variety and also the more commonly available pinky-white form. From time to time you also see the ''original'' brown with white belly wild form.
Sexing	Mature males have small spots along the dorsal fin; it is not known if this also applies to the albino colour variant.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Sri Lanka, Eastern India to Malaysia Sri Lanka Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Indian waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Myanmar Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Thailand Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Bangladesh Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Indonesia Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there) Malaysia Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
pH	5.6 - 8.0
Temperature	20.0-26.0°C or 68-78.8°F (Show others within this range)
Other Parameters	Unimportant, the fish will prosper in a wide range of PH and water hardness.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Anything; this fish is totally omnivorous and will gorge itself on most offerings.
Furniture	Very well rooted plants and large structures that provide some shade. Appropriately sized clay pipes seem to provide a readily accepted, if less cosmetically pleasing, hideaway for these fish.
Compatibility	Keep with large robust fish; anything small enough will be eaten. These should be fast growing or introduced as semi-adults. The walking catfish grows very fast indeed and although purchased at a ''safe'' size for it's co-inhabitants, this ratio will rapidly change to the danger of the smaller fishes.
Suggested Tankmates	Large Cyprinids (Silver Sharks, Tinfoil or Spanner Barbs for example) or Central American Cichlids.
Breeding	See Shane's World article.
Further Information
References	Systema Nat. ed. 10v. 1 - pp305
Registered Keepers	(1) cymrucat (k: 3), who also notes: " I couldn't believe these lovely things were on sale ! They had arrived at the shop due to an error in the order too ! I love their vertical floating. they have now grown and are getting a bigger tank,very relaxing to watch. And boy don't they grow!", (2) juree, (3) LUISGOREY, (4) Dinyar, (5) miller, (6) MADRacing, (7) zedogz (p: 9), (8) Gulper, (9) doesdavid (k: 4), (10) Shovelnose, (11) miles44 (k: 2), (12) straitjacketstar (k: 5), (13) Reginator (k: 2), (14) paul, (15) jessey, (16) Redtailrob (k: 2), (17) TheSmurfinator, (18) JamieH, (19) jscoggs27 (k: 7), (20) Irish Goliath, (21) Yellowpieslinger, (22) Mezel (p: 2), (23) Jaesyr, (24) arapaimag (k: 2), (25) diikis (p: 5, k: 5), (26) Sargy60, (27) james gilbertson, who also notes: "Love this greedy beast, its growing like crazy and my sons best fish". 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	- Shane's World Reproduction Successful spawning of the wonderful WanderWels, Clarias batrachus - CotM 2000 June - Shane's World Reproduction Triggering reproduction with the Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus) - Search Planet Catfish for more on Clarias batrachus - BBcode (for use in linking to this page from forum posts) - Look up Clarias batrachus on AquaticRepublic.com - Look up Clarias batrachus on Fishbase, I.T.I.S. or ispecies search. - URL (for use in linking to the species from anywhere on the web)
Hits	30306 hits.
Last Update	2006 Oct 07 06:37 (species record created: 2001 Apr 25 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name(s)

Common Walking Catfish, Walking Catfish

Type Locality

Asia.

Synonym(s)

Clarias assamensis, Clarias assamensis, Clarias punctatus, Silurus batrachus, Silurus batrachus

Pronunciation

klar ee ass - bat rah chus

Etymology

Clarias: From the Greek chlaros, meaning lively; in reference to the ability of the fish to live for long periods out of water.

Species Information

Size

400mm (15.7") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.

Identification

Clarias species are characterized by having an elongated body; a soft rayed dorsal fin extending to, or nearly to, the caudal fin base; a soft rayed anal fin extending from just behind the anus to the caudal fin base; pectoral fins each with a serrated anterior bony spine; head depressed, covered largely by firmly sutured, surface sculptured bony plates forming a protective helmet; four pairs of flagellate barbels (nasals, maxillaries, inner and outer mandibulars); air breathing organs derived from the 2nd and 4th epibranchials within a superbranchial chamber.

Shown above are the mottled or marbled colour variety and also the more commonly available pinky-white form. From time to time you also see the ''original'' brown with white belly wild form.

Sexing

Mature males have small spots along the dorsal fin; it is not known if this also applies to the albino colour variant.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Sri Lanka, Eastern India to Malaysia
Sri Lanka Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Indian waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Myanmar Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Thailand Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Bangladesh Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Indonesia Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)
Malaysia Waters (hover or click on these areas to show maps or find other species found there)

5.6 - 8.0

Temperature

20.0-26.0°C or 68-78.8°F (Show others within this range)

Other Parameters

Unimportant, the fish will prosper in a wide range of PH and water hardness.

Husbandry Information

Feeding

Anything; this fish is totally omnivorous and will gorge itself on most offerings.

Furniture

Very well rooted plants and large structures that provide some shade. Appropriately sized clay pipes seem to provide a readily accepted, if less cosmetically pleasing, hideaway for these fish.

Compatibility

Keep with large robust fish; anything small enough will be eaten. These should be fast growing or introduced as semi-adults. The walking catfish grows very fast indeed and although purchased at a ''safe'' size for it's co-inhabitants, this ratio will rapidly change to the danger of the smaller fishes.

Suggested Tankmates

Large Cyprinids (Silver Sharks, Tinfoil or Spanner Barbs for example) or Central American Cichlids.

Breeding

See Shane's World article.

Further Information

References

Systema Nat. ed. 10v. 1 - pp305

Registered Keepers

(1) cymrucat (k: 3), who also notes: " I couldn't believe these lovely things were on sale ! They had arrived at the shop due to an error in the order too ! I love their vertical floating. they have now grown and are getting a bigger tank,very relaxing to watch. And boy don't they grow!", (2) juree, (3) LUISGOREY, (4) Dinyar, (5) miller, (6) MADRacing, (7) zedogz (p: 9), (8) Gulper, (9) doesdavid (k: 4), (10) Shovelnose, (11) miles44 (k: 2), (12) straitjacketstar (k: 5), (13) Reginator (k: 2), (14) paul, (15) jessey, (16) Redtailrob (k: 2), (17) TheSmurfinator, (18) JamieH, (19) jscoggs27 (k: 7), (20) Irish Goliath, (21) Yellowpieslinger, (22) Mezel (p: 2), (23) Jaesyr, (24) arapaimag (k: 2), (25) diikis (p: 5, k: 5), (26) Sargy60, (27) james gilbertson, who also notes: "Love this greedy beast, its growing like crazy and my sons best fish".

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