H.wyckii or H.wyckioides?

[taksan]

Any differences? both seem essentially the same.

[Dave Rinaldo]

H. wyckioides is a more grey colour and has a red tail fin.

Hemibagrus wyckioides

Hemibagrus wyckii

[Silurus]

both seem essentially the same.

Not when they are adult. The differences in head shape are quite distinct.

[taksan]

Sorry whats nicer to keep I meant ... as solitary fish I can't get both ....yet.

In the Cat-e-log they sound very similar in husbandry and behavioral requirements.

[Richard B]

If i had to chose one or the other - it'd be wykii everytime

[Viktor Jarikov]

Richard, why? Please, elaborate your preference, if you will.

Cat-eLog states these (wykiis) can be combined with other large fish in public-size aquaria. Does not explicitly say if with each other. Don't know how big a tank should be to attempt the latter but I've had two ~1.3' wykiis in my 25'x6'x3' pond. Beautiful black fish with coquettish white bands on the upper caudal lobe. Easy to handle, they let me lift them up and out of the water with one bare hand for a moment and put them back, all without a wiggle or a fight. They can easily defend themselves from 4-5 times bigger (by weight) hungry predators like my 2.5' TSN Terroristo and 2.5' TSNxRTC hybrid Evans. They attack them back, if those try, and send them flying across the whole pond. Needless to say no one goes into their holes and if they do they dart out of there as if on fire.

For several months my wykiis did nothing but hid only 1-2 meters away from each other in two clay pots. Never knew of each others existence and proximity (it is a supposition but I've never seen them fight each other and never any physical damage on them). Then, one day when I was vacuuming for an n-th time and lifted their pots, they, eventually, found each other. There is some serious dislike between those two. They would not stop fighting and even after I separated them by chasing one away into his farthest clay haven, I found them fighting 15 min later. Eventually, one of them had to go behind the divider to join 1.5' wallago leerii, two 2' alligator gars and Co. He let me lift him out of the water and throw behind the divider. So peace was gained back.

Wyckioides, to me, is also very beautiful, if not more beautiful than wykii. And grows larger by a foot or more. I'd like to get some experience with that fish.