Exallodontus aguanai, anyone keep this?

[sidguppy]

just a question out of sheer curiosity

this weird pim turns up at a stocklist of an importer i occasionally visit
I expected it "to be just another tankbuster"

imagine my surprise when I looked it up and found that it turns out to be a weird Pimelodus if Pimelodus was developed by the stealth-team of the Pentagon.....

it looks awesome!
and it stays reasonably small too.

how does it keep in captivity?

[MatsP]

No personal experience, but this page maintained by Wolfgang Ros seems to imply they aren't particularly difficult - take "all types of prepared food", for example. [At least if my ability to read German is still working reasonably!]

--
Mats

[sidguppy]

if you can put up a link; my German's quite good and my reading sakills in Germn are even better......

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

http://www.catfish-and-more.com/infos/i ... s-aguanai/

OF has some, really a nice species and with the right light they look like aluminium!

[MatsP]

I actually meant to post a link. Getting old, brain not working as it should... ;)

--
Mats

[sidguppy]

OF has some, really a nice species and with the right light they look like aluminium!

you're thinking what I was thinking; that's the one I saw it in stock



now I'm about to set up a rheophile tank for South American fish and this looks like a great candidate.

however, sometimes it seems other species turn up as this one; did you see them?
where they the real Exallodontus and not juvenile Brachyplatystoma or Pimelodus spec?

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

the Exallodontus were real ones, yes. Youngsters look a bit like Pinirampus pirinampu, but without the higher first dorsal spine. There is another difference in the caudal fin, but I can´t remember at the moment.

Thinking of going there? The Centromochlus should be interesting as well I think.

edit: The smaall Brachyplatystoma is awesome! The caudal filaments are longer than the entire fish.

[The.Dark.One]

I've not kept it but Pier Aquatics in Wigan had some not long back.

http://www.scotcat.com/thedarkone/pimel ... guanai.jpg

Perhaps Neil (sojapat) can give us his experiences with them?

[sidguppy]

Thinking of going there? The Centromochlus should be interesting as well I think.

I'm going there, sure as anything; there's a group of Retroculus lapidifer that has my name on it, sort of

got a new 600L tank up and running here, waterquality is nice n smooth
got a bunch of bogwood and loads of stone; I'm about to set up a rheophile biotope tank;
and it's got a really strong current at the moment.

I totally overlooked this particular Pim, until i found out that it's keepable because it won't bust the tank......

it looks beauriful and according to the descriptions it likes/needs a current and it peaceful
it'll be a good match for the Retroculus.

[kruseman]

Fantastic catfish, I say.

But mind the Centromochlus/Tatia strigata!

[Acanthicus]

They like swimming against the current. They are often near the filter and standing in the water.

[sidguppy]

But mind the Centromochlus/Tatia strigata

I once actually kept one; got it from Marc with a piece of bogwood it wouldn't leave.

it's a pretty fish and in the time or so that I kept it, i saw it once swimming; when I put in the bogwood I could see the tail and most of the time if i used my mini-maglite, that was all there was to see.

that was it.
about a year later i found it's cave empty. no trace in the tank of it anymore.

fish like that look great in the bag, but I'm done with them.
I love catfish, but most Auchenipterids try my patience and win

a mediumsized Ageneiosus on the other hand.......now there's something on my "to do list".
magoi's for example.

but Tatia's and the like, that's not for me.

I like cruisers. fish that love currents, that show up at least when feeding time is around

I'm also "night blind" (that's the Dutch name, translated), quite badly.
which means that with little light, I'm blind as a bat. i bump into things
which means Auchenipterids and other critters that only show up when the tank is all dark might as well stay in the store cause I can't see them

and keeping fish I'm unable to see?
meh.

[kruseman]

That's some good information there, Lex.
But it's secretiveness might have been caused by keeping just one specimen.

[sidguppy]

it arrived with a group of small black Tatia's that were just as shy

never saw them, unless I took the tank apart

I found out there and then that those species are not for me

before that i already got rid of Amblydoras nauticus and a group of 3 Zamora Cats for exactly the same reason; but I have to admit, the Zamora Cats were visible the first fwew months

after that they just stayed in their coconut cave and the only thing I ever saw was 3 mouths

the Amblydoras were great in the bag when they arrived and great in the bucket when they left and completely awol in the year between

same happened with a pair of Synodontis flavitaeniata.
true beauties, but i never saw them.

and i'm in to African fish!
but away they went

in that last case, a group might have made a lot of difference, but apart from those 2 (a gift from Marc), back then that species was completely unavailable.

nah, I'll stick to more visible catfish!

I'm looking forward to checking out the fish in the title; if it's a rapid surfing cat, I'll enjoy it a LOT and make sure the current is strong enough for them.

this particular tank already sounds like the Niagara