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All photos by Antonis Roussos / MCH -
February 2006, taken at "Hydrocosmos" petshop. Text by
Francesco Zezza
Few short notes on Pimelodids
catfishes.
FOREWORD: I have never
kept these fishes (to my regret I have to add) but I like them a lot
and, in the future, given the chance … I WON’T MISS IT! Since these
catfishes are NOT very common or well known I will first introduce the
Pimelodids catfish as a “group” !
Pimelodis Catish are
found in Central/South America and some Caribbean islands (56 genera and
over 300 species counted up to now). Many of them grow BIG!!! Among the
main physical characteristics which are worth mentioning are the long
pair of UPPER whiskers and two pairs of LOWER barbels used to search for
food (almost all of them are nocturnal prowlers). They are scaleless
fishes and this - since you will be probably keep a wild caught specimen
- makes things very difficult should any illness arise. As a
general rule “scaleless” fishes do not tolerate almost drugs, including
salt. The same is true while
quarantining them. Their main characteristic is their remarkable
adult size (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum will reach, eventually
THREE meters/NINE feet in T.L.) which call for extremely careful
planning (apart from a correct identification !) when it comes to
setting up a tank to keep them in.
All Pimelodis live at the bottom hence the
tank will be aquascaped accordingly: Healthy specimens breath slowly and
regularly. Their tank:
·
will (preferably) exceed in length the T.L. of the fish by
two/three times and in width at least once, (THINK!),
·
will be filled with acidic/neutral water (at least upon their
arrival),
·
will offer them generous (both in amount AND frequency) water
changes,
·
will have a lot of water movement, subdued lights and room for
the fishes to gulp air at the surface (every now and then),
·
will have ALL of the technical equipment OUT of REACH of fishes
(i.e. out of the tank or securely shielded) and always in “top notch”
condition,
·
will have extremely oversized filter(s). Pimelodis are extremely
sensitive to pollutants: a “yawning” fish shows – to an aquarist –
his/her dislike for the water he/she’s swimming in,
·
will have an aquascaping, with no sharp edges at all, reduced to
the bare minimum, rock and bogwood will do, but always offering each
fish (just in case …) his own, separate, hiding spot. They are – or may
result - among the rest, territorial to the highest extent,
·
will – just in case - contain few (selected) tankmates ALL of
them exceeding the Pimelodid mouth size (not an easy task),
·
will be fed (well, I refer to the fish in it !) extremely
sparingly mostly when adult size/age has been reached.
FINAL TIP (in case
You have to move them): stay away from nets (to avoid damage to
whiskers, barbels, spines and alike) and just in case (not that easy, I
think …) “bag them” …
To
finish with introduction:
1.
A nice pic (shot in Belgium during the first, ever,
MCH meeting) of a
Phractocephalus hemioliopterus (a.ka,: Red Tailed Catfish). A
presentation will be online next month !
2.
Few notes on Perrunichthys perruno (a.k.a.: Reticulated Catfish)
are available (always at MCH)
here.
To
make a long story short the title of the “best of the best” of
Pimelodids, when it comes to aquarium keeping, goes to Brachyplatystoma
(Merodontotus) tigrinus, to whom I devote the (following) few notes:
Fast facts on
Brachyplatystoma tigrinus (Merodontotus tigrinus)
Biotope: South America:
Brazil (the holotype comes from Rio Madeira), Columbia (i.e.: lower
Caqueta) and – to a certain extent – Peru.
Tank: Really large to
huge and many times even this is not enough with any of the Pimelodids.
To be more specific, for a single B. tigrinus, something like 500 liters
could/should do. Our friend is less demanding in tank size as compared
to a Red Tailed Catfish but, still needs a fairly large tank and the
larger the better. Anyway, there some things you should always have in
mind when deciding to keep this kind of fish: lots of room, huge
filtration and suitable aquascaping.
Water chemistry:
nothing really exotic: Temp: 22-26ºC (71-79f
). pH: 6.5.-7.5.
Spawning: I don't have
any information about it, neither on sexual differences nor on actual
spawning in a tank. Actual spawning, to the best of my knowledge, has
never happened in a tank.
Food: Animal matter,
mainly. Anything live/dead/chopped fitting in his (large) mouth will be
considered food and eagerly taken. Feed sparingly: once a day (adult
specimens) with starvation once a week.
Tank Mates: This is
either an extremely complicated issue (choose large “strong but not
bully” tank-mates) or extremely simple (keep him/her alone). Do consider
the fact a healthy (full grown) specimen will attain a T.L of more than
60 cm (about 24 inches) and perhaps more. Think/act conservatively …
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