That they are mostly deepwater species found at the bottom of the lakes. They are so specialized in living in the deep, dark depths that they have essentially lost the accessory breathing organ (and the ability to breathe air along with it). Many of these species are a dark gray or black in color, a...

What I can find about <i>Synodontis nebulosus</i> indicates that it is not found in Lake Malawi. It occurs in the middle and lower Zambezi (and I think the lake is connected to the Zambezi drainage somehow), but not anywhere near the lake. Anyway, many of the clariids listed above are endemic to the...

Looks more like one of those <i>Corydoras aeneus</i>-like things. The dorsal fin is too short to be <i>Brochis</i>.

Heok Hee

Well let's see, for clariids, we have... <i>Clarias gariepinus</i> <i>C. theodorae</i> <i>Bathyclarias euryodon</i> <i>B. gigas</i> <i>B. ilesi</i> <i>B. longibarbis</i> <i>B. nyasensis</i> <i>B. rotundifrons</i> <i>B. worthingtoni</i> <i>Dinotopterus atribranchus</i> <i>D. filicibarbis</i> <i>D. fo...

Only two or three of the <i>Otocinclus</i> species currently considered as valid don't have this color pattern.
You are left with about 13 names to choose from. Take your pick.

Heok Hee

When species A and B are said to be synonyms, this means that they are regarded as the same species. Whether the name A or B should be applied to the species depends on which is the older name: if A is the older name, then the correct name to use would be A and vice versa. There are two kinds of syn...

No, this just means that <i>C. pestai</i> is considered the same species as <i>C. elegans</i> (according to Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1980). This will not be particualrly easy to verify, since <i>C. pestai</i> was described from aquarium material without exact locality and the holotype (which was dep...

Jools,

I recall reading somewhere that some pimelodids do just that (utilize atmospheric oxygen). The problem is I've forgotten where I read this, and whether or not I have the paper. Don't really feel like digging through hundreds of papers in my reprint library at the moment.

Heok Hee

Jools,

<i>Horabagrus brachysoma</i>. These things are sold as sun cats here.

Heok Hee

Hi SG, I checked Roberto's revision and it seems that what you have is <i>Hoplosternum punctatum</i> Meek & Hildebrand, 1916. The photo of the specimen shows the color pattern as you describe, and it is further stated that this is the smallest species of <i>Hoplosternum</i>. Hope this helps. Heo...

That's normal behavior in some loricariids. Some are known to use their gut as an accessory breathing organ to obtain oxygen directly from the air.

Heok Hee

I've frozen tubifex when I bought too much to keep alive for long. The fish would eat them as enthusiastically as they would live tubifex. I'm not that sure freezing is an effective method for killing disease-carrying microorganisms, though. Bacterial cysts are known to withstand freezing. Heok Hee

Using Poll's revision of <i>Synodontis</i> as a rough guide</i>, I would say that those are <i>S. nummifer</i>. Tom is right, <i>S. nummifer</i> has a larger adipose fin. The other important distinguishing feature is the shape of the cleithral (humeral) process, which is much broader in <i>S. nummif...

Shane, I think the quality of the freeze dried tubifex is important. I had a tin of freeze dried tubifex that even my <i>Clarias</i> wouldn't touch (and they would eat just about anything else). I plain gave up and threw the tin away, since no fish would touch it, and I highly doubted its nutritive ...

The gariepinus I had was purchased as a fingerling (on a whim) in a fish market in Malaysia. In many developing countries, they sell <i>C. gariepinus</i> fingerlings for small-scale aquaculture. They were dirt cheap. I recall that I got about five or six for about 1 USD. I kept it in a tank by itsel...

That's your mailing address that I can send a copy of the revision to (snail=postal mail, as opposed to email). I can send you a scan of the picture over email, but it would be too much hassle for the revision (20+ pages and too big to send over email).

Heok Hee

Erm, I'll need a snail mail address to send the paper to. Email me (or send me a private message) with your info.

Heok Hee

Do you have a copy of Roberto's revision of <i>Hoplosternum</i> (which might probably help you identify your fish)? If not, I can get a copy out to you. <i>Hoplosternum shirui</i> is considered a junior synonym of <i>H. littorale</i> in this revision. However, I can probably scan the illustration of...

Your <i> Clarias</i> sounds a little picky. I used to feed the <i>Clarias</i> I've kept almost anything and they would eat it. I was once watching them while munching on a banana and dropped a few pieces in just for fun. They immediately wolfed it down without hesitation. Unfortunately, the banana c...

Dinyar,

I was mooching about the Fish Division library today to try and better identify your cetopsid. Didn't find much, but I think <i>Pseudocetopsis othonops</i> is a much better candidate. Plus, it's about the right size for your fish.

Heok Hee

Actually, it's already in the trade. Check out the picture in the Cat-eLog. Here are some more pictures I found of the fish in aquaria from a simple google search: http://www.aquajapan.com/encyc/catfish/pimelodidae/lophiosilurus/alexandri_e.html http://www.aqua-terra-net.de/Hydro/Sonder/welse/raubwe...

Looks like it might be <i>Pseudocetopsis minutus</i>.

Heok Hee

Jools, After looking at many specimens of <i>Bagarius</i>, I can't say that I can successfully identify them, especially between <i>B. bagarius</i> and <i>B. yarrelli</i>. <i>Bagarius suchus</i> is easy enough, but trying to tell the other two species apart is a nightmare compunded by the fact that ...

A new 2-volume work entitled "Catfishes" (what else?) edited by Gloria Arratia, B. G. Kapoor, Michel Chardon and Rui Diogo is due to be oublished in May 2003. This is a scientific work that summarizes what we know of catfish systematics and biology, and it costs a whopping US$142 (£100). L...

Other than maybe becoming a little paler, the color isn't going to change much. There is supposition that the red color of the fins is due to a carotene-rich diet, but this is unsupported. And no, it is definitely not <i>H. wyckii</i>, as <i>H. wyckii</i> has a flatter head, much darker color, and p...

Actually, all I did was to check the online databases of museum records just to see what species of fish are found in a particular drainage. The caveat to using this method is that the database identifies fish that are sympatric (found in the same drainage), but does not say whether or not the speci...

Here's what I found on the web: <i>Brachyplatystoma juruense</i> has been reported from the Jurua, Puru, Solimoes, Apure and Aguaro River drainages, and there are no records of <i>Z. zungaro</i> from the Rio Madeira. Other large pimelodids found in this drainage: <i>Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum</i>, <...

Just click the button that says www in my response...

Heok Hee

That's <i>Chaca bankanensis</i>, and it's commonly found throughout most of Southeast Asia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo).
Less commonly encountered in the aquarium trade is <i>Chaca chaca</i> from India.

Heok Hee (a fellow Singaporean...check out my webpage)

Largest recorded size for this species is about 65-70 cm. I figure they will reach about 35-40 cm in an aquarium. Right now, it will probably leave your other fish alone, but when it gets bigger than its tankmates, it will most probably start to beat them up. The pleco may be heavily armored enough ...