Gold flake Catfish: Anyone hear of it

Sparg93 · Post by **Sparg93** » 20 Sep 2003, 21:44

I have been searching catfish databases for 2 days now and i can not find the catfish that i just bought.

I saw it at a fish store once and it was referred to as a "Gold Flake" Catfish. This fish is all black and has small gold specs sparatically placed on its body. It is darker in color than a Gold Nugget Cat and does not have anywhere near the same amount of gold spots on it.

I have only seen this fish once before i bought the one i currently own and could not find it anywhere on the internet.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of catfish this is?? Also, if you do, what kind of conditions does it like and what does it eat?

I have had him for about a week or two and he is very hardy and seems to be doing very well in my Cichlid tank. Any info would be great on this.

Thanks,
Craig

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Sep 2003, 21:52

Can you post a picture of the fish? It's really difficult to identify it without one.
I am guessing some kind of Ancistrus, but a picture would really help.

Post by **Barbie** » 20 Sep 2003, 21:53

You don't list in your profile what your location is. That's always a big help to us in determining what type of fish it might be, as we have members all over the world, that might have recently seen fish for sale with that name locally.

With that said, I once bought Ancistrus that were sold as gold dust, they were eventually identified as L182. Can you tell us what size your fish are? Whether they have any bristles? A picture or two is really worth a thousand words though

Barbie

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 20 Sep 2003, 22:23

This could take a wile without a picture however if your in the uk i've seen L199 marked up as a gold spot before, it's not that far away from gold flake. however the ones i've seen were quite light but you never can tell in the lfs.

Sparg93 · Post by **Sparg93** » 20 Sep 2003, 22:42

I really wish i could get you guys a photo, b/c i know it's almost impossible to figure this out with the hundreds of different types out there.

Here's a little more info that may help. Mine is about 4" in length and has much fewer spots than L182 does. The spots are infrequent and if he swims fast enough, he looks like a jet-black catfish.

He has no special features about him and his body lines dictate that he looks like a "typical" catfish (few long wiskers up front and that's about it).

Thanks for your help guys, i know it's tough w/o a picture, but hopefully this info may help a little.

Oh yeah, i got him in NJ.

-Craig

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Sep 2003, 23:09

Long whiskers?
Try Mystus leucophasis.

Sparg93 · Post by **Sparg93** » 20 Sep 2003, 23:12

Oh yeah, the "spots" on the catfish do look like flakes. They are uneven in size and relatively small. And there are only a few throughout his body.

I just checked through all the "L's" and none of them looked the fish i have. I have a "common" pleco that i got at my LFS and the two are not similiar in their body lines. One looks like a Pleco, the other a catfish. The catfish is the one that i can not figure out.

I'm new to this as you may be able to tell

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Sep 2003, 23:16

Does it swim upside down? If it does, see my previous post.

Sparg93 · Post by **Sparg93** » 20 Sep 2003, 23:17

Silurus,
I think you found it!! Come to think about it, i do see him upside down quite a bit

He swim right-side up as well, but he does tend to go upside down every now and then.

Thanks again!! I'm amazed you found it with all the fish to choose from.

Is this an uncommon catfish to have?? I've never seen him before and the guy at the store hadn't either so he sold him to me for $5. I thought it was great deal so i bought it very quickly. Plus, he's pretty cool to watch with his really dark color and specks of gold.

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Sep 2003, 23:23

They used to be very rare, but are now bred in huge quantities in Thailand and are pretty common.
They can be mean to tankmates, though.

Sparg93 · Post by **Sparg93** » 21 Sep 2003, 00:36

Thanks Silurus. You're help has been very useful. I looked at their profile and it did say they can get pretty nasty so i'll keep my eye on this guy. So far he is in a tank with a bunch of Mbunas that are around 3-4" in length.

When he gets bigger, i'll just trade him in to the LFS so someone with a bigger tank or at least someone with bigger fish can take of.

Thanks again!!