Feather Whisker Catfish?

[sixftsam]

Hello there, i just got back from a local pet shop of mine and wrote down a few of the catfish species that we saw. There was a pimpictus, bumble bee, and finally one called a featherwhisker. The first two i was able to identify here on planetcatfish, but the featherwhisker seems a bit of a mystery. Im afraid i didnt manage to take a picture as i had assumed it would be on the site, but it was one i was very interested and would like to know more about. The fish were brown, with very long whiskers, of which many fanned out downwards. They were about 3 inches long, although may be juveniles at that size, and were in two tanks, containing in total around 7-10. Id be very interested in opinions as to what this may be, or if its a common name given to another type of catfish! thankyou in advance, Sam

[Silurus]

Synodontis eupterus

?

[sixftsam]

Thankyou for the suggestion, but it wasnt a feather fin catfish. It was thinner than a featherfin, around the slimness of a pictus, with barbles that were longer than those of a featherfin. I know this makes it sound a bit like a pictus, and i guess in some ways it was similar, but imagine more of the barbles going down and fanning out, i guess thats why the pet shop gave it the name they did. Any other suggestions would be very welcome. Sam

[Marc van Arc]

Perhaps some kind of

Mystus

?

Or, completely different (& if I understand your description correctly)

Heteropneustes fossilis

?

[sixftsam]

Thankyou for another reply! the second fish was deffinatly out, although i can see where you were coming from with the barbles. The Mystus looks like it might be very close to being right, deffinatly on the right track, but imagine the top barbles facing downwards, as if all of the barbles are facing the floor, with none pointing upwards. It looked similar to pictus/mystus, and i reallly liked it, but i dont want to buy something in the hope it will get on with other tank mates, only to later find it was a bad choice. It didnt have a latin name on the label as it was hand written, silly pet shops!

[Marc van Arc]

you don't mean

Sorubim lima

, do you?

[Marc van Arc]

No, of course not, it's not brown. But the description of the barbels pointing that way could indicate a

Pseudoplatystoma

species. If so they are juvies (and probably hybrids too).

[sixftsam]

IT deffinatly wasnt anything like a shovelnose, they have them at the pet shop too (which i disagree with, due to the size they grow to!) but it didnt appear like them at all. They seemed to be swimming around, but less than the pictus.. which always seem to be o the move! i appreciate all the help your giving, and sorry for not being much more help myself, i just write down the names of ones i like the look of and come to check them out here... Any ideas of what to do now? the next time i could go to the store is friday, but was hoping to purchase one then...

[MatsP]

Which shop is this?

--
Mats

[TP]

Hi

This website refers to the Synodontis Njassae as the Nyassa Feather Whisker.

http://www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/index ... 18216_ehen

Could that be the fish

Cheers

Tony

[sixftsam]

The shop is the aquarium shop in country market, on your way from farnham to bordon. I think its a maidenhead aquatics store but never really paid much attention.

It could well be the fish mentioned in the link given, but without any pictures im finding it very difficult to tell, there is just a reference to the family name, which in turn doesnt seem to show up much usefull info when i search for it... any ideas?

[MatsP]

Yes, it's "Maidenhead Aquatics @ Farnham". I didn't see those when I was in there on Wednesday afternoon [or at least, I didn't pay attention to them!].

If I get a chance, I'll try to pop in next weekend. Making no promises tho'.

--
Mats

[TP]

Synodontis Njassae is here in the Cat-e-log

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=239

There are some pictures you can look at.

Tony

[Richard B]

What about Phyllonemus Typus?

[sixftsam]

Wow! thankyou for all of the help, but Richard was right, it is Phyllonemus typus. For those that are interested, the link was

Phyllonemus typus

I asked the guys in the shop and they were very helpful. Told me that they werent 100% sure but knew the fish came from Tanganyika, which in turn helped me ID it here. Richard had managed to step in before me and guess it right though!

The site says they grow to about 3.5 inches, but in the shop they seemed about that size already.... is the site possibly wrong, or are they selling fully grown adults? and would they work well with barbs when it says they eat small fish, or is it just fry i really need to worry about?

Thankyou to everyone that tried to help, and im glad i finally found out for sure!

[Mod edit: Use clog tags --Mats]

[Richard B]

They are full grown adults at that size. (there was some talk in a thread somewhere about there possibly being unknown species in the lake which got to a bigger size, but we've not heard anything since).

They are a brilliant catfish to keep, (small, peaceful, breedable, interesting habits), but don't thrive unless the water is on the alkaline side, with a sandy substrate, & no boisterous fishes - the barbs might be a problem (what sort are they?)

Ideally a species tank is needed for them or a peaceful tanganyikan community.

[sixftsam]

We have 6 cherry barbs with a gravel substrate. In the petshop they are also kept on a gravel substrate... but as ive seen in the past, this often accounts for very little. I was reading that to keep them in best health, every now and then they should be fed small live fish. We dont have the facilities to breed fish (due to living in a small apartment and only having enough space for the one tank), so would this make them a bad idea?

All i really want is a catfish thats medium size (5-7inches), peacefull, wont eat anything, and will actually look like a catfish (not like an eel, or a pleco!). Pictus have come up, so have these feather whiskers, Raphaels are also a possability but their nocturnal nature is a little offputting.... would anyone else have a good suggestion? or am i on to a lost cause?

[Birger]

P.typus do not need live fry to survive even though they would enjoy a snack now and then, they will eat pellets and frozen foods
More of a worry to me would be the barbs going after the long barbels on the P.typus and if the barbs are small enough the P.typus eating the barbs

If you are looking for other suggestions
how about some of the small mystus cats for eg.

Mystus tengara

this would keep with an Asian theme
or one of my favorites

Synodontis nigriventris

or one of the other smaller synodontis

Birger

[MatsP]

Yes, after a visit to the shop in question, I can say they are definitely P. typus.

--
Mats