Article © Heok Hee Ng, uploaded April 01, 2007.

The 2004 expedition to northern India has been productive, resulting in several new catfish species being described and spawning at least four talks (in aquarium meetings) and at least one magazine article, translated into English and available here. To celebrate the third anniversary of this trip (and to round up the results of this trip to include a CotM article), I share my experience with one of the new species, Pseudolaguvia foveolata, discovered during this trip. Cast netting in the Tista River (a tributary of the Brahmaputra River) yielded the first specimen known to science, and almost exactly three years later, I was pleasantly surprised to see this species show up at an importer in Singapore.

I split the few that I had into two batches and placed them into to separate tanks that were very similar (but not identical) in setup. Both tanks had a substrate of fine sand with plenty of rocks for the fish to hide in, but one tank had a stronger current than the other. Having been to the habitat (the Tista is fairly fast-flowing where this species was first collected), I thought that the fish in the tank with the stronger current would be more active (since the conditions in there are more similar to the ones in its natural habitat). Surprisingly, the fish in the tank with a slower flow turned out to be more active (although it did spend almost all its time at or near the filter outlet), so it seems that maintaining a moderate (but not strong) current is more desirable. Another thing I noted is that Pseudolaguvia prefer to hide vertically amongst vegetation in areas of current, where they appear to use their thoracic adhesive apparatus to maintain their position (this behavior was also noted for P. tuberculata, which were being kept in the same tank). Unlike many small sisoroid catfishes, Pseudolaguvia foveolata did not show a tendency to burrow into sand (although they would do so very rarely).

Feeding them was less problematic than I had imagined. I initially thought that they would eat only live or frozen food, but found that they would also accept small pelleted food with ease. Pseudolaguvia make good tankmates in a setup with similar sized fish (e.g. Puntius gelius).

This is a unique little catfish worth considering for the intermediate aquarist with a cooler water setup and smaller fishes.

Copyright information for the images used in this article can be found on the species' full Cat-eLog page.

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	Pseudolaguvia foveolata  Ng, 2005
Common Name
Type Locality	Tista River at Tista barrage, 26°45'10"N, 88°34'11"E, West Bengal, India.
Pronunciation	sue doh lah GOO vee ah - foe vee oh lah tah
Etymology	From the Latin foveola, meaning pit, in reference to the large median depression in the thoracic adhesive apparatus of this species. An adjective.
Articles
Species Information
Size	30mm or 1.2" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Members of the genus Pseudolaguvia are small erethistid catfishes inhabiting hill streams and large rivers in the area bordered by the Ganges River drainage (northern India) to the west and the Sittang River drainage (east-central Myanmar) to the east. They can be distinguished from other sisorids by their small size,a combination of a thoracic adhesive apparatus with a median depression and prominent postcoracoid processes. Differs from congeners in having a shorter thoracic adhesive apparatus, a more slender and more elongate body.
Sexing	Not known.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Asia: Tista River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River in northern West Bengal, India. Indian waters, North Eastern India Waters, Padma, Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Tista (click on these areas to find other species found there) Indian waters, North Eastern India Waters, Padma, Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Torsha (click on these areas to find other species found there) Log in to view data on a map.
IUCN Red List Category	Data Deficient, range map and more is available on the IUCN species page. Last assessed 2009.
pH	6.0 - 7.0
Temperature	23.0-24.0°C or 73.4-75.2°F (Show species within this range)
Other Parameters	Needs well oxygenated water.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Live/frozen food preferred, but can adapt to small particulate prepared food. User data.
Furniture	Fine sand for the bottom and smooth pebbles/rocks. The presence of plants will also help. Pseudolaguvia foveolata was collected from a deep area of the Tista River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River. The water was turbid and the area in which the holotype was collected had a mixed rocky/sandy bottom.
Compatibility	A peaceful, shoaling species that should be kept in a group of at least four. Best kept in a well-oxygenated tank, preferably with some current.
Suggested Tankmates	Ideal tankmates include balitorine loaches such as Homaloptera, fast-swimming cyprinids such as Danio or Barilius, and smaller mastacembelids. Other species collected along with Pseudolaguvia foveolata include Aspidoparia morar, Barilius bendelisis,B. shacra, B. vagra, Crossocheilus latius, Carra lissorhynchus , Canthophrys gongota ,Psilorhynchus balitora, P. sucatio ,Lepidocephalichthys guntea ,Acanthocobitis botia, Schistura savona , Amblyceps mangois , Batasio tengana , Erethistoides sp. and Parambassis ranga .
Breeding Reports	There is no breeding report.
Further Information
Reference	Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters v. 16 (no. 2), pp 174, Figs. 1-2, 4A.
Registered Keepers	There are 2 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There is but a single wish to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 3 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
Forum BBCode
	Search for P. foveolata
	Look up P. foveolata on AquaticRepublic.com
	Look up P. foveolata on Fishbase
	Look up P. foveolata on Encyclopedia of Life
	Look up P. foveolata on Global Biodiversity Information Facility
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Last Update	2020 Sep 23 03:21 (species record created: 2007 Apr 01 12:37)

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