On the one hand interesting altough not practical for use in a tank. But on the oither hand, studying 1 species of catfish, comparing the results with 1 species of non-catfish, and drawing conclusions for asll catfish does seem a logical error. One would expect to have studied a few more species bef...

Following Jools´will have furhter the advantage of getting offspring from more males, and thus having a broader gene-pool in the next generation.

I can only agree with Victor. To add a few more numbers, an average mammal needs 10 times more food then a same sized reptile, and many a catfish is much slower than this reptile. However, ´a mammal´ does not include humans. The thing is, in a normal mammal, the kidneys consume the most of their ene...

C robinae could be a good suggestion. I once read the stripes in the tail suggest they need a lot of current.

gibby 100 % certain

Apart from nitrogen, it looks like fish, at least some species, produce pheromones, reducing the ability of conspecifics to grow. From my own experience, a single fish in a tank will grow, whether I change water or not. If there are more in the tank, growth will reduce if I don't change water, even ...

I followed the lead but the main reference is to a book / which I would have to buy. Not the best way to convince me. Aparet from that, she wrote that people, even if they have a planted tank, misunderstand the amount of nitrogen taken up by plants. I must say - it is rather easy to estimate this am...

As ppm stands for parts per million, one would assume it refers to a molar - 1 micromol of something per mole of something else. The reality is different, ppm is most often read, by aquarists, as mg per liter. A millionth of the mass I got to admit, it is rather distracting, after all, a liter of wa...

I think you intent us to guess what adipose would mean. In Dutch the adipose fin is called vetvin, which would translate as 'fat fin'. This would make me translate adipose as thikened, fatty - and in Hoplosternum the first finray in the pectoral fin is thickened. Problem is, in Dianema I neve saw th...

I wonder what the purpose of these bred fishes is. Are they to be reintroduced or are they to replace collection for food from the wild? If it is the first, one would want the fish to grow approximately with the same speed as ios oberved in the wild Certainly not twice or three times as fast. The th...

I am not saying it's not a gibby. We certainly need better pictures.

Thew white tips in the tail say to me Ancistrus, most likely the common A cf cirrhosus

The breed easily

To me, the main reason not to use chemicals to get rid of snails is, when it works, you are facing a tank with a lot of dead bodies - bad for your water. Besides, in a growing out tank, you need to feed a lot, and not all is eaten. In fact, that could very well be the reason why you have so much sna...

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Congratulations

If boys can be recognized at this size, than your first one must definitely be a girl.

First get them to mature, then hope for fry.

ichthyologist's heart belonged to a lady named Natalie and the catfish somehow reminded him of her... if this did happen to be true then it would be nataliei , I think thats how it would go. I would think nataliensis As far as I know, -i is for male names and -ensis for female names. And as Natalie...

Assuming it stays this way, She would be a girl. But as said, (s)he will need some growing to do.

I could not say wen these plates start growing in a male - @ 50 % or 80 % of aldult length.

I do agree however, it's a beautifull specimen. But then, I'm a bit biassed regarding Hoplos

I think it's too small to say. It's and and a half inch (not counting the tail) and it might grow another inch.

Males get overlapping plates on their breast, further the brest fin spines might become curved. Basically the same things as all the other species in Hoplosterinae, but more subtile.

As my smallest tank is 225 liters, I never worry about sizes for small fish.

For catfish this rule is often used - for quiet catfish. I would not use it for active ones, such as Pangasius. Among cichlid keepers the rule is often 8 L * 2L *2L because these are much more active, and much mnore agressive. Still for very agressive species such as Parachromis dovii I would sugges...