Trachelyopterus galeatus • Auchenipteridae • Cat-eLog

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Trachelyopterus galeatus** (Linnaeus, 1766)
Common Name(s)	Common Woodcat
Type Locality	''In America australi''
Synonym(s)	Auchenipterus maculosus, Parauchenipterus galeatus, Parauchenipterus paseae, Pseudauchenipterus galeatus, Silurus galeatus, Trachycorystes galeatus
Pronunciation	gal ee ATT uss
Etymology	Trachelyopterus: From the Greek, trachelos, meaning neck and pteron, meaning fin; in reference to the long cranial shield, which gives the appearance that the dorsal fin originates at the neck region.
Species Information
Size	220mm (8.7") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Colouration is key to this fish; it has set out to imitate a piece of wood and certainly succeeds. Youngsters especially are hard to spot and spend most of their time crammed into woody crevices. The pattern and colouration of this fish is very variable. Firstly, amongst individuals as environmental parameters such as water and lighting change. Secondly, in the wild it has a huge distribution range of pretty much most of tropical South America. This gives rise to many regional colour variations.
Sexing	Male has a slightly concave anal fin, which is slightly convex in the female. The leading rays of the male's anal fin are fused to form a urinogenital organ used in internal fertilization of the female. This modification of the anal fin does not manifest itself until the fish is at least 75% grown.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Widely distributed in the Amazon and is found from the Northern tip of South America as far South as tropical Peru and Brazil. Amazon (click on these areas to find other species found there) (Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)
pH	6.0 - 7.5
Temperature	20.0-24.0°C or 68-75.2°F (Show others within this range)
Other Parameters	Slightly soft water is preferable but in no way vital - this is a hardy fish.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Most prepared foods are taken. Live or frozen foods will promote fast growth although are not necessary to maintain this fish in good condition. Care should be taken not to feed dry foods which expand after contact with water. This fish is a glutton and will eat all food present; if this subsequently expands inside the fish it may cause internal injury. Presoak these foods before use.
Furniture	Juveniles (smaller than 2'') require tangles of bogwood within which to hide. Floating plants or clumps of Java moss are also helpful. Larger fish require a cave each and this is most easily achieved with lengths of black PVC drain pipe.
Compatibility	A boisterous fish that likes to throw its weight around but in no way aggressively. Smaller fish are at risk purely because of the fishes large mouth and nocturnal prowling.
Suggested Tankmates	A boisterous fish that likes to throw its weight around but in no way aggressively. Smaller fish are at risk purely because of the fishes large mouth and nocturnal prowlings.
Breeding	Not recorded in the aquarium. As mentioned before internal fertilization is utilized by this and most other genera in this family of catfish. The male internally produces a jelly-like substance which carries and protects his sperm once it is transferred to the female via the modified anal fin. Females can carry this sperm for up to 4 months before it is actually used in egg-laying. The male is not required and isn't usually present at this time. Two female fish in a UK Public Aquarium spawned in the absence of a male, producing huge numbers of gelatinous eggs, sufficient to form a layer several eggs thick over a considerable area of the base of a 1000 gallon aquarium. It is assumed that the eggs swell considerably once they have left the body of the female. It would appear that the gelatinous coating provides protection from fungal or bacterial invasion, as in spite of being infertile they took longer than expected to decay.
Further Information
Registered Keepers	(1) Silurus, (2) roy.bryan, (3) amiidae, (4) daniel60 (k: 10), (5) Snowy (k: 6), (6) Koltsix (k: 3), (7) dayglowfroggy (p: 2), (8) The.Dark.One, (9) Bijn (k: 5), (10) Junttis (k: 3), (11) coelacanth, (12) Join (p: 2, k: 7), (13) Floody, (14) Jason.G, (15) Ghenriques, (16) Marc van Arc, (17) Jass. Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.
Breeding Reports	None.
Articles	- CotM 2000 July
	Search Planet Catfish for more on Trachelyopterus galeatus
	Look up Trachelyopterus galeatus on AquaticRepublic.com
BBCode	(for use in linking to this page from forum posts)
	(for use in linking to the species from anywhere on the web)
	Look up Trachelyopterus galeatus on Fishbase
	Get or print a QR code for this species profile, or try our BETA label creator.
Hits	19069 hits.
Last Update	2006 May 01 00:00 (species record created: 2001 Apr 13 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Trachelyopterus galeatus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Common Name(s)

Common Woodcat

Type Locality

''In America australi''

Synonym(s)

Auchenipterus maculosus, Parauchenipterus galeatus, Parauchenipterus paseae, Pseudauchenipterus galeatus, Silurus galeatus, Trachycorystes galeatus

Pronunciation

gal ee ATT uss

Etymology

Trachelyopterus: From the Greek, trachelos, meaning neck and pteron, meaning fin; in reference to the long cranial shield, which gives the appearance that the dorsal fin originates at the neck region.

Species Information

Size

220mm (8.7") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.

Identification

Colouration is key to this fish; it has set out to imitate a piece of wood and certainly succeeds. Youngsters especially are hard to spot and spend most of their time crammed into woody crevices. The pattern and colouration of this fish is very variable. Firstly, amongst individuals as environmental parameters such as water and lighting change. Secondly, in the wild it has a huge distribution range of pretty much most of tropical South America. This gives rise to many regional colour variations.

Sexing

Male has a slightly concave anal fin, which is slightly convex in the female. The leading rays of the male's anal fin are fused to form a urinogenital organ used in internal fertilization of the female. This modification of the anal fin does not manifest itself until the fish is at least 75% grown.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Widely distributed in the Amazon and is found from the Northern tip of South America as far South as tropical Peru and Brazil.
Amazon (click on these areas to find other species found there)

(Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)

6.0 - 7.5

Temperature

20.0-24.0°C or 68-75.2°F (Show others within this range)

Other Parameters

Slightly soft water is preferable but in no way vital - this is a hardy fish.

Husbandry Information

Feeding

Most prepared foods are taken. Live or frozen foods will promote fast growth although are not necessary to maintain this fish in good condition. Care should be taken not to feed dry foods which expand after contact with water. This fish is a glutton and will eat all food present; if this subsequently expands inside the fish it may cause internal injury. Presoak these foods before use.

Furniture

Juveniles (smaller than 2'') require tangles of bogwood within which to hide. Floating plants or clumps of Java moss are also helpful. Larger fish require a cave each and this is most easily achieved with lengths of black PVC drain pipe.

Compatibility

A boisterous fish that likes to throw its weight around but in no way aggressively. Smaller fish are at risk purely because of the fishes large mouth and nocturnal prowling.

Suggested Tankmates

A boisterous fish that likes to throw its weight around but in no way aggressively. Smaller fish are at risk purely because of the fishes large mouth and nocturnal prowlings.

Breeding

Not recorded in the aquarium. As mentioned before internal fertilization is utilized by this and most other genera in this family of catfish. The male internally produces a jelly-like substance which carries and protects his sperm once it is transferred to the female via the modified anal fin. Females can carry this sperm for up to 4 months before it is actually used in egg-laying. The male is not required and isn't usually present at this time.
Two female fish in a UK Public Aquarium spawned in the absence of a male, producing huge numbers of gelatinous eggs, sufficient to form a layer several eggs thick over a considerable area of the base of a 1000 gallon aquarium. It is assumed that the eggs swell considerably once they have left the body of the female. It would appear that the gelatinous coating provides protection from fungal or bacterial invasion, as in spite of being infertile they took longer than expected to decay.

Further Information

Registered Keepers

(1) Silurus, (2) roy.bryan, (3) amiidae, (4) daniel60 (k: 10), (5) Snowy (k: 6), (6) Koltsix (k: 3), (7) dayglowfroggy (p: 2), (8) The.Dark.One, (9) Bijn (k: 5), (10) Junttis (k: 3), (11) coelacanth, (12) Join (p: 2, k: 7), (13) Floody, (14) Jason.G, (15) Ghenriques, (16) Marc van Arc, (17) Jass.

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

Breeding Reports

None.

Articles