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Today I was at my local Petco buying cat litter, and on a whim I looked at the fish tanks. There was a tank labeled "bumblebee catfish $4.99" (USD), with a photo of a catfish. The tank appeared empty so, again on a whim, I asked the clerk to move the decor to see if any bumblebees were hiding under the wood pieces. Sure enough, one small about 4 cm catfish darted out from the wood, but it wasn't a Microglanis. The clerk was surprised and wondered aloud if that was a clown pleco. I immediately recognized it as . Sadly, they had only one, but how often do I find an Asian bumblebee cat for $5 USD (about 3.7£)?!? (Answer = "never").

So I bought it and asked the clerk to order more (and she did, right there in front of me). One fish does me no good, but I'll keep this for a while to see if I can get more. If not, I'll trade it at my fish club in a few months. More pics will follow after I get it set up in a QT tank.

Oh, the impulse struggle is real!

Cheers, Eric

Welcome to the bagrids Eric!
-Shane

My favorite fish! <3

You want to get more, are you hoping to spawn them?
(In case you haven't come across it yet, these don't do well housed in groups like your Microglanis do. They will attack each other.)

Back in the day I had dreams of spawning this species and did a lot of reading that I compiled into a post on here. Disclaimer that I was younger and newer to the hobby still when I wrote all this up and that I never actually got to attempt it. Hopefully it is still helpful in some way?

I reference a commonly cited tidbit in that post about how this species is reported to spawn - it comes from the Baensch Aquarium Atlas and was a misquote/misinterpretation somewhere along the way that got passed around a lot. I finally got to look at the book this year to see what it said, directly from the source. Baesnch isn't describing P. siamensis at all - it's speculation that the spawning of this species may be similar to "Leiocassis brashnikowi" (now Tachysurus brashnikowi). This was when P. siamensis was "Leiocassis siamensis," so it was a more reasonable jump at the time, but perhaps more of a stretch now, knowing that they are in separate genera.

On P. siamensis, Baensch only comments that breeding habits are "not known." Everything else sourced from this book refers to T. brashnikowi:

"The related species, L. brashnikowi, spawns on the ground among roots. The ♂ guards the nest. Young hatch after about three days and become free-swimming after seven."

Anywhere P. siamensis is referred to as being a paternal egg guarder and spawning among roots is from this.

Hope this is useful! Looking forward to seeing your updates on this fish, if you decide to stick with this species and not trade it away.

Thanks Shane and Narelle.

Narelle wrote: ↑30 Dec 2021, 13:28I reference a commonly cited tidbit in that post about how this species is reported to spawn - it comes from the Baensch Aquarium Atlas and was a misquote/misinterpretation somewhere along the way that got passed around a lot. I finally got to look at the book this year to see what it said, directly from the source. Baesnch isn't describing P. siamensis at all - it's speculation that the spawning of this species may be similar to "Leiocassis brashnikowi" (now

Tachysurus brashnikowi

). This was when P. siamensis was "Leiocassis siamensis," so it was a more reasonable jump at the time, but perhaps more of a stretch now, knowing that they are in separate genera.

On P. siamensis, Baensch only comments that breeding habits are "not known." Everything else sourced from this book refers to T. brashnikowi:

"The related species, L. brashnikowi, spawns on the ground among roots. The male guards the nest. Young hatch after about three days and become free-swimming after seven."

Anywhere P. siamensis is referred to as being a paternal egg guarder and spawning among roots is from this.

Narelle, speaking of confusion, there is also this reference in one of the articles here on Planetcatfish, a COTM article on this species:

Despite the fact it is hard to find a catfish book that doesn't feature this species, surprisingly little hard fact beyond basic husbandry exists. Experiments in spawning are perhaps hampered by the fishes territorial or carnivorous nature, but it is often the case that hardy species are easy to spawn once the secrets are unlocked. The recent spate of imports of this fish allow another generation of catfish keepers to try their hand at this, surely rewarding, accomplishment.

I suspect it is based either on the Baensch text, or is it farmed somwhere? Maybe with fish hormones? No matter.

As for my plans, yes they always include an eye for spawning, but that won't happen with just one, and I'm not going to spend too much of my lifetime searching for more if I don't find them in the next few weeks (about the time I'll keep this one in QT). If Petco got this as a one-off, I'll move it on to someone else.

Besides, I still "have bigger fish to fry" (not literally, on any level ): I'm working on reorganizing my Microglanis tanks to make breeding them succeed. A hobbyist on the east coast has been having a lot of luck with her Microglanis aff. iheringi. Her fry are the cutest little buggers! Additionally, I'm growing out a half-dozen Peruvian (maybe cf. raninus), with hopes of spawning them one day.

Cheers, Eric

P.s., Narelle, I hope that grad school is progressing well for you. Or has the pandemic interrupted your plans?

Cheers, Eric

bekateen wrote: ↑30 Dec 2021, 14:54 Narelle, speaking of confusion, there is also this reference in one of the articles here on Planetcatfish, a COTM article on this species:

Despite the fact it is hard to find a catfish book that doesn't feature this species, surprisingly little hard fact beyond basic husbandry exists. Experiments in spawning are perhaps hampered by the fishes territorial or carnivorous nature, but it is often the case that hardy species are easy to spawn once the secrets are unlocked. The recent spate of imports of this fish allow another generation of catfish keepers to try their hand at this, surely rewarding, accomplishment.

I suspect it is based either on the Baensch text, or is it farmed somwhere? Maybe with fish hormones? No matter.

As for my plans, yes they always include an eye for spawning, but that won't happen with just one, and I'm not going to spend too much of my lifetime searching for more of I don't find them in the next few weeks (about the time I'll keep this one in QT). If Petco got this as a one-off, I'll move it on to someone else.

Besides, I still "have bigger fish to fry" (not literally, on any level ): I'm working on reorganizing my Microglanis tanks to make breeding them succeed. A hobbyist on the east coast has been having a lot of luck with her Microglanis aff. iheringi. Her fry are the cutest little buggers! Additionally, I'm growing out a half-dozen Peruvian

Batrochoglanis raninus

(maybe cf. raninus), with hopes of spawning them one day.
Cheers, Eric

I've read in the past that they are farmed in ponds. I don't recall if it involves hormones - it's been awhile since I read about it. I do know there weren't many details, and that it sounded like it was a situation where they just dumped some fish in the ponds and let them be, and then came back and there were more. Not very intentional?

They aren't as common in the trade as they used to be from what I can tell, but I still see P. siamensis in shops pretty frequently. When I had sourced more for my attempt in that thread, they were ordered by my LFS through Segrest. (Looks like they're in the Segrest catalog as "Leiocassis siamensis." If suppliers are still using the old name, you might have better luck if you ask for them that way.) I think there's just not as much demand for them with Microglanis as a smaller, friendlier option. Shouldn't be too hard to get more though.
Biggest issue I've noticed is that some shops will just order "bumblebee catfish" and it's hit or miss from shipment to shipment if the suppliers send Microglanis or Pseudomystus, even if they've consistently sent one genus in the past.
Maybe less so now though, I haven't been in the market for P. siamensis for a few years. Spawning plans were put on hold when I decided to pursue school.

The South American bee exploits are still fun to watch, I've been reading along with some of your Microglanis posts. I'm always partial to Bagrids, but Pseudopimelodids are good fishes too. I've always thought I'd get some Microglanis and Batrochoglanis one day, once I'm content with the number of Bagrids in my collection.

bekateen wrote: ↑30 Dec 2021, 15:02 P.s., Narelle, I hope that grad school is progressing well for you. Or has the pandemic interrupted your plans?

Cheers, Eric

It's going well! I'm working on two little publications to get my feet wet, both on Asian catfishes.

Thanks for the extra information.

Narelle wrote: ↑30 Dec 2021, 17:29It's going well! I'm working on two little publications to get my feet wet, both on Asian catfishes.

Wonderful! Much success, future "Dr. Narelle!"

Cheers, Eric

Narelle wrote: ↑30 Dec 2021, 17:29 It's going well! I'm working on two little publications to get my feet wet, both on Asian catfishes.

Not something I'm working on with Kevin, is it?

As my last spawning attempt took about four years in total... I backed away from this sp.
A few things I have picked up:
- All natural spawnings of Pseudomystus and Mystus (i.e. without hormones) involved unplanned massive changes to the water parameters. Most cases involved a large water change to a tank that had not been cleaned in some time.
- They are super efficient egg eaters. I think several egg scattering catfishes spawn more often than we know but the chances of egg/fry survival with the parents is very, very low.

If I were to work with these fish again I would focus on heavily decorated tanks (lots of hiding spots to reduce aggression) with a false bottom/egg trap. I would also add one or more egg lifts in hopes of sucking eggs from below the false bottom into a breeder net. I would also experiment with long stretches between water changes followed by several quick succession water changes with soft water.
-Shane

Thanks Shane. Now all I need is a pair.

Happy new year!
Eric

Silurus wrote: ↑31 Dec 2021, 02:27 Not something I'm working on with Kevin, is it?

Yes, one of the two is.

Shane wrote: ↑31 Dec 2021, 16:06 - They are super efficient egg eaters. I think several egg scattering catfishes spawn more often than we know but the chances of egg/fry survival with the parents is very, very low.

Do you think Pseudomystus are egg scatterers, then? The Baensch notes are misattributed to this species, but I still expected them to likely do some amount of guarding in cavities based on the behaviors I've seen from my fishes. My Pseudomystus and my Tachysurus have staked out little wood or rock cave territories. Though in retrospect I suppose I've still been operating on the assumption this is the case and have interpreted everything I observe from my fishes through this lens.

I've got my hopes up, based on recent events in their tank, that I'll have something noteworthy to report about my P. heokhuii soon, but I'm hesitant to post a thread about it before I see any fry crop up in case I'm wrong. If I do have news, I should be able to confirm the level of parental investment for at least one species of Pseudomystus?

Narelle,
There are a ton of fisheries papers on hormone induced spawning of Mystus and Hemibagrus. Observations track with spawning behavior I witnessed in Pseudomystus: chasing, pairing, nudging, shivering and expulsion of eggs (usually described as sticky) across the substrate. I got all of these except the eggs

There certainly could be surprises in the family, but induced spawnings have all reported a similar pattern.
-Shane

Went back to Petco today and saw another Asian bumblebee cat (still $4.99). Didn't buy this one because I still haven't decided if I want to keep the other (which I have already) to adulthood. Oh the decisions...

Cheers, Eric