PlanetCatfish.com

Picked up a new cat today, not sure of the ID Though.
I'm afraid I can only give you a description to the best of my ability untill I have resolved the Digital camera issue!
OK,
At first sight it looks like a very small Arius Seemani, However, Does not have the usuall marking for this species and appears to be a slightly different shape. I have already ruled out all other families based on barbels and fins, eg, Small Adipose fin, 3 pairs of barbels no nasal barbels.
It is 1 1/4 inches long sl, grey with speckled pale underbelly, large forked tail with very small white areas on the tips. all fins are grey, same color as body, except adipose fin which half black. Dorsal fin is very high, much higher than A seemani, has fairly large eyes, and very large nostrils.
Is in no way afraid of light or me! and seems to spend most of its time on or near the surface constantly swiming around,
Its feeding well and now has a slightly bulging belly.
I cant find anything that is an exact match in the cat e log but the closest seems to be Arius Graeffei.
Any Ideas.

im looking for data.

Oh btw it was sold as Thai Hi fin cat, if that helps.
jason

Not A. maculatus?

Very nearly, but not quite.
Those fins are just alittle bit too pointed. the dorsal fin is high but nowhere near as high or pointed as that and the pectorals seem normal.
But the color and markings are spot on.
jason

The fish in the picture is a mature adult. Most specimens of A. maculatus I have seen do not have the fin spines as elongate.

what do you think?

Maybe a little too young too tell. Looks like A. maculatus, but could also be A. caelatus. Ariids are notoriously difficult to identify by sight, and the most reliable way to tell them apart is to look at their toothplate morphology. In any case, this guy will definitely need brackish/marine water as it ages.

Thanks Silurus.
Ill let you know how it develops and try to get better pics in the future.
It is currently residing in its own tank and will be staying that way! I have a larger tank waiting for it once its a bit bigger then later ill acqire something bigger as neccesary.
This fish incidentally seems to be most active during daylight hours, and has now descended to the sustrate, but isnt seeking any cover so i've given it plenty of room as it seems to enjoy exploring its surroundings. At the Lfs it was kept in a tank with many others of the same species but they all kept apart I didnt notice any group behaviour.
As I've mentioned before our water's pretty hard so I think that will do for now.
Ive never kept marine or brackish species before so this will be a bit of learning curve for me.
Still makes a change from Clariids!
jason