Which Pimelodus catfish?

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 24 Jan 2015, 15:52

Hi, any ideas which pimelodus this is?

I'm confident it's not blochii as there is no defined stripe down the middle and no black spot at the Base of the dorsal fin.

It was bought with blochii's however it's growth was remarkably quicker.

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 24 Jan 2015, 16:27

Jools

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 24 Jan 2015, 16:57

Thanks, I have wondered about maculatus but thought the spots might be too small and dense?

Viktor Jarikov · Post by **Viktor Jarikov** » 13 Feb 2015, 02:37

I think Jools knows maculatus quite well as many photos on its Cat-eLog page are his: http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/spe ... ies_id=312

It appears that the size and number of spots do vary, perhaps most notably with age/size, e.g., see pic #2. I got one that looked like the 1st pic on that Cat-eLog page but now after a year it is looking more like yours.

It also looks like they max out at a significantly smaller size versus blochii. Does this match yours?

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 22 Feb 2015, 19:35

Something went wrong.

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 22 Feb 2015, 19:39

Something went wrong this isn't the same fish it is another from the same group. I had a reply but lost it as I posted it, will try again in a bit.

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 22 Feb 2015, 20:51

Right I'll try this again..

I certainly didn't mean any disrespect to Jools, I was just interested if this was a definite ID or a probable ID. I would love it to be a maculatus as that was what I was hoping for.
I bought this fish from a group labelled '4 line pims,' I bought a few of them and went for the darkest and fish that were distinctly different from the group ie smallest, largest and roundest spots. This one grew the fastest but then slowed down and was over taken by all but the darkest one, which has hardly grown. I can't find my original photo's and am unsure which one of the descriptions above this one turned out to be, but I don't recognise it from any of young fish on the species page. I'm not saying these are wrong, i'm just fascinated with the variations of patterns and the species in general. I sold the fish I was less impressed with. I have since bought young fish that were labelled as maculatus and I do see similarities with these fish to those on the species page.
Interestingly after not noticeably growing for some time, this fish has had another growth spurt since I recently added a very large fully grown blochi.
I will post recent pictures of the two fish from the original group below.

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 22 Feb 2015, 20:57

The darkest one, bad photo but no real pattern, just dark colouration also very slow growing.

My ID , Blochi grew slower, did out grow the maculatus until recently but now the maculatus has over taken again.

Finally not the original group, but bought as maculatus

Viktor Jarikov · Post by **Viktor Jarikov** » 24 Feb 2015, 22:39

Very interesting. Thanks. I too have been fascinated by the Pimelodus genus and in particular the blochii and its look-alikes. There seems to be great variability in the blochii appearance. We may be dealing with different spp or sub-spp.

I didn't mean beyond what I said. Perhaps, I have not chosen right words. I meant to say I'd trust Jools opinion but you are right: more from Jools and input from more people would be nice.

The fish in all your 3 photos above I find interesting and would like too for their IDs to be established, granted better photos would be highly desirable. I don't think I've ever seen the fish in your first photo and in the third photo, again, speaking of your post immediately above. Sorry, I am not much help.

Anyone, please?

bazzho · Post by **bazzho** » 24 Feb 2015, 23:03

Excellent, I think I'm too used to discussions (particularly of Facebook pages) turning too quickly into heated debates! But I'm all up for open discussions

The darker one is interesting although it does match some photos on the blochii page, it doesn't have the 'blochy' pattern I would expect.

I have been meaning to get some proper photos for some time, so I feel a weekend project coming on, will try and find a smaller tank, dust off the dslr and see what I can do.

In the mean time any input welcome...

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 24 Feb 2015, 23:20

P. blochi types have that dark notch at the base of the dorsal spine. P. maculatus does not.

Jools