PlanetCatfish.com

Anyone here know anything about these guys? Are they all diggers? I went by my LFS after work and there were 2 labeled Pseodohemiodon Catfish *rare!*. So I thought I'd come home and do some research. They had stripes about 1 inch wide running from pectoral fin to pectoral fin, not lengthwise. And they were about 9" each. I looked through planet catfish, no luck, close but no cigar.

Thanks guys,
A

Have you tried looking at pics of the other large loricariines, like <i>Crossoloricaria</i>, <i>Loricariichthys</i> or <i>Spatuloricaria</i>?
The last one (<i>Spatuloricaria</i>) may actually be your fish:

Bingo! Matches with the Giant Peruvian Whiptail (Spatuloricaria)

So what can you guys tell me about them? Worth 49.99 (canadian)? They're about 8-9 inches right now, beautiful fish. There's too at the store... I don't know about 100 for 2 fish... mis-labeled fish at that.

;) mislabeled fish can be, in my opinion, some of the best deals out there. One LFS I go to is run by a guy who'll say, "scott, what's this here? I got it by mistake." and normally it's a good fish if you had a tank for it, and since the owner can't tell you a thing about it, normally they're ready to get rid of it. Many LFS's don't have a good catfish person, which, considering that they probably don't make up a large percentage of the sales or the profit, it's understandable. Fortuneately some have good catfish customers who can at least give the general info, if not, in some cases, way more information than would ever be needed to keep them. But I've gotten a lot of my fish deals on mislabeled fish, of course I've lost some $ on them too...

My sentiments exactly, the "best" fish I came across in 20 years of fishkeeping are those fish the LFS didn't recognize but I did. It's a bit like shopping for antiques or other collectables, great bargains and disappointments are both sides of the same coin I guess.
I hope to see a live Spatuloricaria one day, that kind of fish is hard to get over here.

Greetz Pectorale

I've seen <i>Spatuloricaria</i> for sale here in the US for under $20, so your fish sounds a bit pricey (CAN$50=US$37). BUt then, you may not be able to get catfish like that in your neck of the woods easily, so it'll still be a steal for you.
The only info I could find on these fish is that they require cooler water, like other loricariines.

I think $50 a piece is a great deal if you can house these guys. I too have seen Spat's available in the $20 range, but they're alway's Spat. "Tiger" which is a much less astetically appealing Spatuloricaria. The "marbled" and "chameleons" have always been in the $40 to $50 range (US$) and that was @ wholesalers not LFS. So IMO $37(US) is quite reasonable. The real problem is keeping them healthy... btw... where'd you get your info on cooler water Silurus??? I believe the "Marbled" Spat comes from 26 to 29 C whitewater streams, at least that's what our exporter in Peru told us.

The cooler temps came from the Neodat database. Although <i>Spatuloricaria</i> have been collected from localities where the water temperature was 30°C, most of the records (where temperatures were given) were in the 21-26°C range.

Charone....whereabouts are you located? I am in Calgary, Alberta, and have been trying to track down a couple of Pseudohemiodon for a few years now with no luck.

Toirtis wrote:Charone....whereabouts are you located? I am in Calgary, Alberta, and have been trying to track down a couple of Pseudohemiodon for a few years now with no luck.

Hey, well we established that they were Spat.'s, but I'm in Vancouver, BC.

Charone, it would really be appreciated if you put your location in your profile.

Cheers,
Rusty

Hey, well we established that they were Spat.'s, but I'm in Vancouver, BC.

Somehow I missed that ID bit(I need to be reading and posting when I am actually awake sometime). Thanks, though, and if you ever do see Pseudohemiodon, give me a shout....I can hop in my truck and be in Vancouver in under 12 hours, if need be..;)