Leiarius marmoratus

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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EricBarber101
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Leiarius marmoratus

Post by EricBarber101 »

is a Leiarius marmoratus a good choice for a first cat fish? is it agressive? If it isnt a good firts choice could you please tell me what is. I want a agressive catfish, that is not a wicked hard cat to take care of.
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Silurus
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Post by Silurus »

Read this.
One thing to note with keeping large pims in general is that they need a fair amount of maintenance, since they are usually sensitive to deteriorating water conditions.
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JohnnyOscar
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Post by JohnnyOscar »

Hi Eric,

I've got a baby Leiarius marmoratus in my 150 gallon tank with four baby oscars, a dozen tiger barbs and a common pleco. He's doing fine.

The guy I bought it from told me it was a Perrunichthyis, so I was expecting a total length of about two feet. Then I discovered Planet Catfish, did some reading and learned I have a monster on my hands. No matter, I've got a 1000 gallon tropical pond under construction ;) I'm already working on the "warning, these premises are protected by predatory catfish" window stickers.

As for aggressive behaviour -- too early for me to tell, but he seems pretty cocky for a little 'un. He seems to be shy of the oscars for the time being. He's not shy of me though, and turns round to face me (beg for food?) whenever I check his little cave.

I'll keep you posted as it grows
JohnnyOscar
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Post by JohnnyOscar »

I said I would report back, so here goes.

This is one of the most interesting fish in my collection, but even at its current size (6"+), it is clearly too large for my 6' x 2'x 2' tank.

Most of the time it hides behind a few pieces of bogwood cunningly constructed to resemble a submerged tree root. At night it sometimes comes out to prowl. It accepts any and all food readily.

It once got spooked and this is the incident that convinced me that my tank is already too small for this fish: I stuck my hand into the tank and gently touched its barbels. The fish did not flinch and seemed quite happy to taste my fingers. I pulled my hand out and my flatmate tried the same trick. The fish shot directly upwards and smacked its head on the ledge. It made a terrible noise. The fish then swam angrily back and forth at mid-level for a couple of hours before it calmed down and went back to its hiding place.

It's not wickedly predatory. In fact it seems very friendly with most of its tankmates unless it is hungry. I have seen it eat a couple of small cichlids and lunge at at least one more. One of my Neolamproologus brichardi is MIA also...
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