The study actually focuses mainly on <i>Panaqolus</i> (that was before it was described).

A happy Chinese New Year to you all and it begins with <i>Amblydoras hancockii</i> as this month's featured catfish. This article is now online at http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/2003-02.htm . We have more pictures and articles in the pipeline this month and further announcements will be made when...

Apparently not. Lignin is almost impossible to digest. The activity in the gut microflora of loricariids is primarily against cellulose and hemicellulose, which are the main components of wood. Interestingly, generalized loricariids (e.g. <i>Liposarcus</i>) have a limited wood-digesting ability and ...

Just checked up on the current literature, and it looks like <i>Parauchenipterus</i> is now considered a junior synonym of <i>Trachelyopterus</i>. <i>Trachelyopterus</i> was originally distinguished by the lack of an adipose fin, but this is apparently a character that only works at the species leve...

I think Zack meant <i>Goeldiella eques</i>, the pimelodid that looks like <i>Chrysichthys ornatus</i>.

My experience with auchenipterids is that they're not as reclusive as often stated. I've kept <i>Tatia</i> and <i>Liosomadoras</i> which all come charging out at feeding time. <i>Auchenipterichthys</i> is a little more shy, but with the right inducements, can be made to come out of hiding.

It's <i>Trachelyopterus</i> (I think <i>Parauchenipterus</i> has a bigger head). Still owe you a specific id for this.

Cellulolytic bacteria in wood-eating loricariids is very real. There are scientific studies that show significant cellulolytic activity in the guts of such fish (although the bacteria were not isolated).

Depends on which group of catfishes you are looking at. Color works reasonably well with some groups and very poorly with others. For cories, I would say it works reasonably well most of the time.

FWIW, rubberlip plecs can be pretty darn ornery themselves, so it may not be a good idea if you want the tankmates to live in peace.

I looked at both <i>L. cyclurus</i> and <i>L. aquilus</i> today and both species have a very large axillary pore. In fact, the pore is still covered by a plug of congealed mucus in many specimens. It is also hypothesized on pg. 20 of Bailey & Stewart (1984) that the secretion comes from the axil...

Sure they can. But you generally have to use a whole set of characters (not just one) to get an accurate id.

Just a quick side note that I'm not omnipotent, and yes, I do NOT know everything there is to know on catfishes. Disclaimer: Don't take everyhting I say in the forum to be the gospel truth.
Now, back to your regular scheduled discussion...

I take it you are talking about synos. Then you don't need to worry about any plants being eaten, since they won't touch the green stuff.

It seems that not all catfish have this pore (or maybe they are not readily visible in some catfish groups). The pore is normally located just above the base of the pectoral spine behind the cleithral (humeral) proces. Very obvious in some catfishes like pangasiids. And also very obvious in recently...

Which brings me back to the point that this may not be the result of regular skin mucus secretion, but rather, something from the axillary pore (doradids and pangasiids are known to secrete a milky white substance from this pore as well, that AFAIK, has not been reported to be posionous to other fis...

Yellow bullheads can grow up to 460 mm (18") in the wild, but more likely reach 300mm (12") in an aquarium, so a 29-gallon tank might be a tad too small for even one of them.
The channel cat would've grown even bigger than that.

Are you sure the fish is not just well-fed or suffering from a bacterial infection ? I would wait and see just to rule out the other two possibilities (of course, it should be separated from the other fish if it was suffering from an infection). Even if it was gravid with eggs, the eggs will never h...

I think this may be a case of an extreme fright response mistakenly thought to be a natural response in the wild. I have seen instances where the mucus from captured <i>Clarias</i> have killed other fish kept with it in a bucket. It seemed that other ostariophysans such as barbs were particularly pr...

Dimethyl (2,2,2,-trichloro-1-hydroxethyl) phosphate is indeed the same thing as dylox. Checked up the lethal dosages and they are apparently the same for catfishes as they are for barbs. If it is no good for bala sharks and tinfoil barbs, then it's a safe bet that it's no good for catfishes (since t...

I think the loss rate is too high in this case. I've had fish shipped to me using priority mail that would die in about one third of the cases (this always happens in winter/late fall, so I strongly suspect that the cold weather in transit helped do them in), so my advice to you is to have the fish ...

Actually, lots of fishes living in fast-flowing streams look like plecs. The flattened disc-shaped body, along with the enlarged paired fins is apparently the best way of producing a suction to hold the fish against strong currents. Loaches such as gastromyzontines and catfishes like glyptosternines...

I have managed to keep <i>Gastromyzon</i> for a considerable length of time, and the only problem is that they are strict algae eaters, so you have to provide plenty of algae for them to graze on.
Unlike plecs, they will not eat cucumbers, lettuce or any other greens.

Gaahh! These are just regular bronze corys (<i>C. aeneus</i>) injected with dye. For a discussion on the forum on dyed catfishes, see: http://forum.planetcatfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=186 http://forum.planetcatfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=274 I wouldn't have bought the fish if I were you, so as not to sup...

Um, shouldn't the CoTM include catfishes that someone has experience actually maintaining in the aquarium ? Let's not get carried away here... I can actually write some CoTMs myself (been meaning to for some time) Here's what I can offer: Wallago leerii Silurus asotus Belodontichthys truncatus Ompok...

It'll be a labor of love (i.e. I'm not interested in the money).
The pdf idea sounds interesting, but I think many people would still rather have a traditional paper copy of the book. You gotta love the smell of paper and glue.

Looks like an albino common plec (one of those <i>Liposarcus</i> thingies).

Actually, I'm all for a spell checker of some sort. I find it extremely irritating to keep going back to edit spelling errors for four or five times (as the perfectionist in me would demand).
There. Typed it without errors. Hope I don't have to come back and correct THIS post.

The growth of channel cats is not linear. Growth is rapid the first two or three years, and then it begins to slow. You can expect your channel cat to reach a length of 35 cm (about 14") in about 5 years. Maximum recorded size of a channel cat is nearly a meter (that would be um, about a little...

Shane, While the idea of doing it in many parts sounds appealing, I just think that we will have very thin books once we are done with the bagrids and the silurids. I have my own reasons for doing it as one biggish book, namely sio that I can get it out of my way and concentrate on my dissertation r...