A new family for me ...

[racoll]

Yesterday picked up five little

Hara jerdoni

. These are my first sisorids. I am liking them a lot.

It's not easy getting hold of interesting catfishes in New Zealand. When the cool stuff does turn up, it's either one or two specimens, or just too expensive. The shop had a good number of these; I might get a few more.

Here are some crappy pics. They stay still alright, but the camera seems to have problems focussing on them. Needed a tripod.

[racoll]

They are on their own in a small tank with airstone and Eheim internal.

Temp: unheated (22C, colder at night)
Conductivity: 150us

The set-up looks really bright from the photo, but the photos are overexposed and the tank is actually quite dimly lit.

Have been feeding crushed flake and microworms. Will try mini bloodworm tonight.

[Shovelnose]

Nice! Just outta curiosity, how much do they retail for there???

[racoll]

What are their tankmates???

No tankmates at the moment, but I may put them in another tank with some Danio tinwini later.

how much do they retail for there?

or just too expensive

Too much! They were NZD$15 each, which is about GBP£7.50. You could probably buy these in the UK for less than £3 each. I dread to think how cheap they are in India.

[Shovelnose]

Ha ha. Well, at just over a dollar (1 NZD = 38 INR), you can get around ten of these over here. They are not found very often at retailers though. Not many takers for 'em.

This is the species that made me take a liking to catfish.

Quite a hardy fish. There is a bunch in my tank now that has survived three years (the worst summers I have ever seen).

Are they taking flake foods already???

[racoll]

Are they taking flake foods already???

I think so. They seem to react when it drifts past them, and it was gone in the morning (but that could have been down to the snails I suppose).

Nice to to know they are 150 times more expensive here!

[Shovelnose]

I get the same reaction from my H.jerdoni and E.pussilius. Everytime a pellet is dropped, they get all excited and swim towards it and just stop dead once they are near. Never seen 'em eat one.

[The.Dark.One]

They are cracking little fish.

They retail at around £1.50 to £2.00 here though last week I paid £4.50 each for some fully grown stonkers (about 3cm SL). I got a pair so hoping they will breed at some point.

I have had them before and they are very hardy but they do need live food IMO. Small bloodworm or tubifex, small whiteworm etc. I found that they prefer no current or if there is a current they have plants to wedge themselves in (like your Java Moss).

[racoll]

Thanks. Useful info chaps. Perhaps I was a bit premature with the flake.

They're enjoying the frozen bloodworm, but don't seem as keen on the microworm, which is odd, as most other small fishes go crazy for it.

[medaka]

Another food to try is newly hatched brine shrimp.
Mine go hyperactive when baby brine shrimp is put into their tank.

[Deb]

Yesterday picked up five little Hara jerdoni. These are my first sisorids. I am liking them a lot.

Congrats on your Hara jerdoni! I hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of them. Have you seen them do their headstanding yet?

Mine are kept in a dimly lit (17 watts over 29 US gallons) tank with a lot of wood and vine decor. (Tank 5 in "My Aquaria.") There's leaf litter to grow infusoria (at least, that's my intent) and Indian almond leaves stand across the back.

There is no mechanical filter and no current, although the water is circulated around the plants every day by hand. Temp is about 80dF and cooler at the bottom.

Although my Hara become tremendously excited when food enters the tank, I've never seen them eat any flake or pellet food and I've stopped offering it to them. They do eat fortified brine shrimp, from frozen, and are fed other mixed frozen foods except bloodworms, which I think are too fatty and not very nutritious. I may be wrong on that.

Tankmates are 12 tiny Boraras sp. and red ramshorn snails. The Hara are competitive eaters, I'd say!

Hope this wasn't TMI. I'm no authority by any means; I learn every day and hope to pick up some tips from you here.

Here are some crappy pics.

Not at all!

[racoll]

Have you seen them do their headstanding yet?

Ha ha. Not yet!

There's leaf litter ... and Indian almond leaves stand across the back ... There is no mechanical filter and no current

This makes me wonder what their habitat in the wild is like. I always had them down as a fast-water fish, but not so sure now.

From IUCN assessment (written by HH):

Inhabits slow-moving hill streams, with sandy substrate amongst aquatic weeds and decaying leaves.

[Silurus]

Jools and I caught Hara (or Erethistes, I can't remember which) during our 2004 Indian trip, and they were never anywhere near fast-flowing water. The ones we caught from a stream with a substrate of fine sand were found in the very slow-flowing portion of a meander amongst vegetation growing along the bank.

[racoll]

Thanks. I might tone down the aeration a bit and add some leaf litter.

Oh, and Silurus, what are the long bony structures that are on either side of the abdomen (seen here)?

[The.Dark.One]

posterior processes of the coracoids?

[racoll]

Are these present in other sisorids, and what are they for I wonder?

[The.Dark.One]

According to de Pinna the following have it (in varying degrees):

Hara, Erethistes, Bagarius, Conta, Erethistoides, Glyptothorax, Pseudolaguvia, Gogangra (Nangra viridiscens as was), Pseudocheneis, Sisor and the Aspredinidae. He also mentions that scoloplacids, doradoids, callichthyids, many loricariids have it albeit in different degrees and also theirs are obscured.

I'm not sure what its purpose is but I always assumed that it provided some rigidity in case of being crushed, bitten etc.

[racoll]

Interesting. First time I noticed this structure.

The rigidity thing makes sense, but would it not limit the amount of food that could be consumed in one "sitting"?

[Silurus]

The gut sits largely outside the postcoracoid processes, so they do not hamper the expansion of the gut in any way.

It seems that the processes are more prominent in species that spend a lot of time on the substrate and for which no additional structures (e.g. a thoracic adhesive apparatus) are present to help secure them to the substrate. I assume that the processes help to provide stability to the catfishes to allow them to stay on the bottom the right way up.

Note that the processes are not particularly well-developed for species that spend most of their time swimming (e.g. Gagata and Nangra) rather than hugging the substrate.

Here are some sisoroid (and aspredinid) pectoral girdles to show varying degrees of development of the postcoracoid processes.

[racoll]

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

[Deb]

It is indeed interesting! So, even though Hara don't need structures to keep them braced in fast water, they DO need something to tie them to the substrate. Very interesting, to know what's inside. Thanks.

Racoll, I was going to say earlier that it can't possibly hurt to add some leaf litter. -

I might tone down the aeration a bit and add some leaf litter.

- One of the reasons I have so much of it in my Hara tank is because the substrate would be a bit sharp without it. A thick layer of decaying leaves gives the Hara something soft to roam through when they are on the move or looking for food.

[The.Dark.One]

Even though my pair are very fat and gorge on bloodworms I have noticed them now on more than one occasion going along the strands of Java Moss and eating what I presume are aufwuchs off it?

[Deb]

I've seen this, too, along the back of the tank where Java moss is trained to grow along some branching vines. I've also seen them head first, wiggling madly inside the "cups" formed by the leaves of a smaller Anubias variety (I think it's called "dwarf" A. barteri var. nana). Seeing this behavior, it's hard to believe they are doing anything OTHER THAN searching for food. And by this, I mean microscopic food that is naturally growing on the leaf surfaces, not loose prepared food that has drifted into the plant.

Racoll has a huge Java moss ball in the tank pictured. Maybe he's seen the same behavior.

[apistomaster]

I have seen them listed at a retail price of US$3.50 here.

I think they would be a great bottom feeder for a dwarf Cyprinid species tank. I have a soft spot for some of the pretty Boraras species and these catfish seem like they would make good tank mates. I found the beautiful Celestial Pearl Danio, Danio margaritatus, to be disappointing because they are extremely shy. My buddy has been breeding them for years but I never have seen them out in the open. One aspect about them I find fascinating is how similar their colors and shape are to Eastern Brook Trout.

I am mainly interested in South American fishes so i have six banjo Catfish and I suspect they fill similar ecological niches in their respective ranges.

[racoll]

Racoll has a huge Java moss ball in the tank pictured. Maybe he's seen the same behavior.

I haven't yet, but I will keep an eye out now it's been mentioned. What I have noticed is that the fish get really active and swim around a lot after lights out.

I bought another

Hara

today (last the shop had), as I unfortunately lost one that got stuck behind the internal power filter. I replaced the internal power filter with a air driven box filter now, and this has reduced the current a lot too.

I also added a load of leaf litter and some java fern. Will get some photos uploaded of the new tank design soon.

I think they would be a great bottom feeder for a dwarf Cyprinid species tank. I have a soft spot for some of the pretty Boraras species and these catfish seem like they would make good tank mates. I found the beautiful Celestial Pearl Danio, Danio margaritatus, to be disappointing because they are extremely shy.

I would probably keep the Boraras a bit warmer (25-26C) than I would the Hara (20C), but they would otherwise make good tankmates. I recently added a few Sawbwa, and this pairing has worked out well. I think the Danio margaritatus would also work out well too, but you need a good number, and a lots of plants, otherwise they are indeed shy. Danio tinwini is another pretty fish that I think would be ideal too.

[Shovelnose]

Or Puntius manipurensis if they are available there. A school of these would look lovely.

[MatsP]

Hey, have you got pictures of Puntius manipurensis, so that I could add it to Aquatic Republic?

--
Mats

[Deb]

I haven't yet, but I will keep an eye out now it's been mentioned. What I have noticed is that the fish get really active and swim around a lot after lights out.

Yes, this is what they do! And with a very wiggly, energy-INefficient, motion, IMO! Observing this swimming style is what convinced me they were unsuitable for fast waters (later confirmed by HH's personal experience.)

Looking forward to your photo updates. Can't wait to see the Sawbwa. You are so lucky to have found them!

[racoll]

Or Puntius manipurensis if they are available there. A school of these would look lovely.

Sadly not, but they are nice. Puntius gelius would also be good too I think.

have you got pictures of Puntius manipurensis, so that I could add it to Aquatic Republic?

I have photos of pretty much every cyprinid in the trade (including P. manipurensis). When they are published (hopefully soon) you can use all of them, as they are CC BY-ND licenced.

[Shovelnose]

Puntius gelius would also be good too I think.

True. We do get another 'dwarf' barb locally, Puntius sharmai. Unfortunately I don't see it entering the trade anytime soon.

Do you get any Badis or Dario species out there???