H. Punctatum or D. Longibarbis?

[MissNoodle]

in a debate with someone.

What is this catfish?

Several photos attached:

[bekateen]

Hmmm. This is difficult. My first thought is

Dianema longibarbis

because the eyes seem to be too big to be

Hoplosternum punctatum

. However, from the photos of D. longibarbis, it appears they have some larger dots along the midline, which I don't see on yours. Also, your fish's eyes seem to be above the midline of the body, and your dorsal spine seems short, so I'm leaning towards H. punctatum. I don't know how variable the adult D. longibarbis spotting pattern can be. To confirm, get more photos: 1) of the dorsal fin spread upright (although books say the dorsal spine is the same height as first ray, all the photos here on PCF show it's not exactly so). 2) better straight side view of body, so see relative position of eyes.

Cheers, Eric

[MissNoodle]

Photos with dorsal up

[MissNoodle]

And for side view

[MissNoodle]

Hmmm. This is difficult. My first thought is

Dianema longibarbis

because the eyes seem to be too big to be

Hoplosternum punctatum

. However, from the photos of D. longibarbis, it appears they have some larger dots along the midline, which I don't see on yours. Also, your fish's eyes seem to be above the midline of the body, and your dorsal spine seems short, so I'm leaning towards H. punctatum. I don't know how variable the adult D. longibarbis spotting pattern can be. To confirm, get more photos: 1) of the dorsal fin spread upright (although books say the dorsal spine is the same height as first ray, all the photos here on PCF show it's not exactly so). 2) better straight side view of body, so see relative position of eyes.

Cheers, Eric

Id also like to point out, the links on the longibarbis page comparing the species no longer work

[bekateen]

Id also like to point out, the links on the longibarbis page comparing the species no longer work

Thanks. Yeah, I noticed that too as I studied the photos. I'll follow up on that.

As for your fish, after seeing your extra photos, I still think it's

Hoplosternum punctatum

. I picked one of your photos. It shows the upward placement of the eye relative to the body (for reference I drew an arbitrary straight line from the middle of the caudal peduncle through the snout).

All that said, this photo also shows the spots along the midline which I see in other

Dianema longibarbis

photos. ... Nope, I'm not falling for it. I'll still say Hoplosternum.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

FWIW, I agree with Eric.

Jools

[MissNoodle]

Awesome, thanks guys! That's what they were sold as and what I thought they were. The other person got told longibarbis for theirs and turns out some of them may actually be punctatum.

Either one, they're great fish and I particularly love them a lot.

[bekateen]

Awesome, thanks guys! That's what they were sold as and what I thought they were. The other person got told longibarbis for theirs and turns out some of them may actually be punctatum.

Either one, they're great fish and I particularly love them a lot.

Don't dismiss the possibility that the two species have been co-mingled before shipping, such that your LFS has a tank full of mixed species fish. I actually contemplated whether your two fish were the same species. In the end I settled on yes, but I had to think about it.

Cheers, Eric

[MissNoodle]

Awesome, thanks guys! That's what they were sold as and what I thought they were. The other person got told longibarbis for theirs and turns out some of them may actually be punctatum.

Either one, they're great fish and I particularly love them a lot.

Don't dismiss the possibility that the two species have been co-mingled before shipping, such that your LFS has a tank full of mixed species fish. I actually contemplated whether your two fish were the same species. In the end I settled on yes, but I had to think about it.

Cheers, Eric

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