Wallago

[richb]

Hi All,

I was recently given a Wallago, likely a W. micropogon. I am curious if anybody knows how to id the various species? Or, I guess more importantly, is or are there external, visible characteristics that I could use to id my juvenile (5") fish?

And, yes, I have large tanks.

Thanks.

Regards,

Rich

[Silurus]

The easiest way to identify your fish would be to find out from where it was caught.

[Viktor Jarikov]

How to distinguish attu, leerii, and maculatus using external features is more or less described in the Cat-eLog. Micropogon - IDK. Silurus (aka Dr. Heok Hee Ng) is a high-level professional and a prominent expert on Asian catfishes, so I'd go by what he says.

BTW, IMHO this belongs better in the "What's my catfsh?" forum.

[andregurov]

There is one labeled with this same name in my LFS. It's about 4", and I'm guessing it was part of the same export as the one you acquired. Did your supplier offer any clues as to collection/export location?

[richb]

Thanks for the help. It looks like one hint would be looking at the length of the barbels. Leerii seems to have a wider distribution than micropogon, from what I could tell by reading the descriptions. I will try to find out where the fish was collected however since it was not purchased at a LFS, that poses some problems. Based on the descriptions, it's either leerii or micropogon and I can hope that it is the later.

Victor, thank you for your suggestion on where my question should have been posted. I will certainly keep that in mind in the future. If you or one of the mods wants to move the thread, please feel free.

Regards,

Rich