Is this Silurus meridionalis?
Posted: 25 Apr 2023, 23:40
Apologize in advance for the (quite likely) irritating nature of these posts; not sure of anyplace else to ask where I'll have a near certain chance of a definitive ID, though.
Anyways, onto the backstory: I was browsing the fish store for some interesting catfishes (as one usually does) and stumbled upon this (image below the text) little-ish fellow, that looked awfully different from the other catfishes, Shilbe intermedius (or a similar species). Reminded me of an emaciated Siluris meridionalis that had just swallowed a rock, so I got it. Fish vomited three pieces of recently-swallowed krill (reason why it looked so round initially) in the bag, but other than that seemed to be alright. Brought him home, tossed into a small-ish hodgepodge of a community, and witnessed it trying to eat half the inhabitants within the first couple minutes of introduction. The "big bosses" of the tank, a group of four random geos, then decided that bullying the new guy was a fun idea and proceeded to do so, which led me to extricating the fish to a bare 20G long. Tried feeding it a silverside; it viciously mauled it and tried eating the organs with some failure. Still quite skinny, even though I watched it inhale a half-frozen blob of bloodworms with zero hesitation. Now spends some time bumbling about before casually meandering back to its righteously-claimed PVC pipe. Wonder if that behavior will ever change; hopefully not, for it's quite nice to watch.
Anyways, would really appreciate an ID on the fellow so I can know more about it. Honestly don't mind whatever it is; the fish is quite the fascinating individual and seems remarkably charming (for a catfish, at any rate).
Here are the pictures (not very ID-friendly, but oh well). I can probably fish the young lad out for a photoshoot later, but I'm a bit hesitant to do that for fear of stressing him out too much.
Anyways, onto the backstory: I was browsing the fish store for some interesting catfishes (as one usually does) and stumbled upon this (image below the text) little-ish fellow, that looked awfully different from the other catfishes, Shilbe intermedius (or a similar species). Reminded me of an emaciated Siluris meridionalis that had just swallowed a rock, so I got it. Fish vomited three pieces of recently-swallowed krill (reason why it looked so round initially) in the bag, but other than that seemed to be alright. Brought him home, tossed into a small-ish hodgepodge of a community, and witnessed it trying to eat half the inhabitants within the first couple minutes of introduction. The "big bosses" of the tank, a group of four random geos, then decided that bullying the new guy was a fun idea and proceeded to do so, which led me to extricating the fish to a bare 20G long. Tried feeding it a silverside; it viciously mauled it and tried eating the organs with some failure. Still quite skinny, even though I watched it inhale a half-frozen blob of bloodworms with zero hesitation. Now spends some time bumbling about before casually meandering back to its righteously-claimed PVC pipe. Wonder if that behavior will ever change; hopefully not, for it's quite nice to watch.
Anyways, would really appreciate an ID on the fellow so I can know more about it. Honestly don't mind whatever it is; the fish is quite the fascinating individual and seems remarkably charming (for a catfish, at any rate).
Here are the pictures (not very ID-friendly, but oh well). I can probably fish the young lad out for a photoshoot later, but I'm a bit hesitant to do that for fear of stressing him out too much.
