Article © Balaji Vijaykrishnan, uploaded October 31, 2015.

Putting fingers to keyboard for the third time, "our man in India", Balaji Vijaykrishnan extols the virtues of the torrent catfish, Amblyceps mangois. One of several species of Amblyceps that he has encountered in the wild and successfully maintained in the home aquarium.

Before I sit down to write a CotM article, I usually browse through the existing ones to choose the most ‘ignored’ genera to finalise. While I am usually not surprised, this time I actually was as there was no article for a species that would rate among the most common exports from India, Amblyceps mangois. Google defines the colour brown as ‘a colour produced by mixing red, yellow, and blue, as of dark wood or rich soil’. I don’t care too much for the other colours but copious amounts of red and brown are among my favourite shades in any catfish, especially if it is native to India.

Cobble and pebble habitat of Amblyceps mangois.

Fishes of the genus Amblyceps are small-bodied, elongate catfishes, found in fast moving streams and rivers of Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and India. This genus presently contains 17 described species out of which eight are found in India. Three species presently enter the trade from India, A. mangois, A. cerinum and A. laticeps with A. mangois being the most ubiquitous export. Amblyceps mangois can easily be differentiated from the other two species by the presence of deeply forked caudal fin while A. cerinum have a truncate caudal and A. laticeps, an emarginate caudal. Originally described from the Ganges Drainage, this species is considered to have a very wide distribution in India, Nepal and Bangladesh with records as far south as the Krishna River in India. A few pictures I received of the Krishna ‘A.mangois’ seem to point towards an undescribed species rather than A. mangois. Specimens for the trade are primarily collected from the Raidak River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra in West Bengal.

Amblyceps mangois is among the easiest hillstream catfish when it comes to care. While the ingredients for care; good flow, lots of pebbles, live food and cool water with good DO may sound familiar to anyone who keeps hill stream fish, A. mangois is one of those species which can do without most of these conditions. However, to really enjoy these fish, it is definitely recommended to maintain all of the above; especially cover in the form of pebbles and or cobbles. My A.mangois were maintained in a 36x18x12" ‘hill-stream tank’ along with A. cerinum, A. laticeps, a few Glyptotorax spp., Garra annandalei, Oreichthys crenuchoides and Danio meghalayensis. There never was any sign of aggression towards tank mates. In fact, the most active I have seen them was after food was drooped when their frantic dash around the tank starts. Feeding was relatively easy as this species takes to processed feed right from day one. I used to feed Hikari (Massivore and Carnivore) pellets, ANS Sting Ray Feed, Tetra Bits, Scampi Feed and blood worms and nothing was usually left over.

Specimens of between 2-3 inches TL are usually found in the trade and with good care, they can easily reach around 5 inches TL. Amblyceps can be collected from heaps of cobbles by kick seining. While I haven’t collected this particular species, I have had good success collecting A. tenuispinis by this particular method with over forty specimens collected in about fifteen minutes of kick seining. They were always collected in large groups instead of just one or two specimens which makes me wonder if they are actually gregarious.

I realise these ‘scamps’ of the aquarium hobby would find homes only with the most ardent Asian catfish fans but I would suggest anyone with an interest in Asian fish in general to give these a shot.

Copyright information for the images used in this article can be found on the species' full Cat-eLog page.

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	Amblyceps mangois  (Hamilton, 1822)
Common Names	Biting Catfish Indian Torrent Catfish
Type Locality	Nathpur, Kosi river, India.
Synonym(s)	Amblyceps managois, Amblycetis mangois, Pimelodus indicus, Pimelodus mangois
Pronunciation	AHM bli seps - mang gaw yis
Etymology	From the Greek amblys, meaning blunt and kephale, meaning head; in reference to the blunt snout. From the local name of the fish (mangois or manggoi).
Articles
Species Information
Size	125mm or 4.9" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	The catfish genus Amblyceps is characteristic in having the epiphyseal commissure of the supraorbital sensory canals immediately anterior to, and not passing through the epiphyseal bar; the anterior cranial fontanelle narrowing abruptly along its posterior end offering epiphyseal commisure bony support from frontal; the fifth ceratobranchial expanding medially at its posterior tip; pinnatelike rays along anterior margin of the procurrent and medial caudal-fin rays; a transverse crest along entire posterior margin of roof of supraoccipital and pterotic; the lateroposterior process of horizontal lamina of urohyal short or vestigial,shorter than the horizontal lamina; the upper hypurals fused with compound centrum; the anterior nostril situated immediately anterior to the base of the nasal barbel; and both lips with double folds. It is also characteristic in having a prominent cup-like skin flap above the base of the pectoral spine. Differs from A. mucronatum, A. murraystuarti, A. platycephalus, A. foratum and A. variegatum in having a relatively short body with 34-36 (vs. 38-40) vertebrae, and a caudal fin with upper and lower lobes of distinctly different shapes (vs. truncate caudal fin in A. murraystuarti and with both lobes similar in shape in other Indochinese species). Pectoral spine smooth. Differs from A. macropterus in having a smaller adipose fin.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Asia: Pakistan to Thailand. Indian waters, North Eastern India Waters, Padma, Ganges (click on these areas to find other species found there) Indian waters, North Eastern India Waters, Padma, Ganges, Koshi (click on these areas to find other species found there) Login to view the map.
IUCN Red List Category	Least Concern , range map and more is available on the IUCN species page. Last assessed 2009.
pH	6.4 - 7.4
Temperature	15.0-22.0°C or 59-71.6°F (Show species within this range)
Other Parameters	Best kept in a well-oxygenated tank with a vigorous current.
Husbandry Information
Furniture	Provide plenty of rocks as hiding places.
Compatibility	Ideal tankmates include balitorine loaches such as Homaloptera, fast-swimming cyprinids such as Danio or Barilius, and smaller mastacembelids. Congeners are territorial and will fight, so space is essential if more than one is to be kept.
Breeding	Females have a pair of unbranched ovaries and males have branched testes, and the species breeds in the summer (June-July). Not reported in aquaria.
Breeding Reports	There is no breeding report.
Further Information
Reference	An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges, pp 199, 379.
Registered Keepers	There are 11 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There are 2 wishes to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 12 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
Forum BBCode
	Search for A. mangois
	Look up A. mangois on AquaticRepublic.com
	Look up A. mangois on Fishbase
	Look up A. mangois on Encyclopedia of Life
	Look up A. mangois on Global Biodiversity Information Facility
	LFS label creator ARN ref:1.18.122.355
Last Update	2020 Nov 08 03:10 (species record created: 2015 Oct 31 14:07)

Back to Catfish of the Month index.