Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
Hi all I just registered here, I brought this Electric catfish when it was smaller than 1", hes grown quite rapidly on bloodworm and is a great little character. He is called Tolkki and lives on his own in a 20gal long for the time being.
I'm just curious as to what species he is because I can't find any pictures that look like him. this place is renowned for being full of knowledge and expertise so here I am. I found there are keepers on here of electric cats so maybe I can be pointed in the right direction. He has blue eyes and is a plum purple colour with very clear dark black and white markings on his tail.
Thing is mine has very clear black and white markings, and a lighter hue.
all the pictures I can find of M. Electricus have very dusky dull markings that dont stand out at all like mine, even the young ones.
Thanks, It looks a little like the one that begins with an O, and the poll thing on the species shows that there are owners of that species on the forum. there is owners for just about every species. And because I can't match mine to any of the pictures I'm hoping that an E-cat owner with one like mine can tell me exactly which species I have, as the maximum size varies wildly from species to species.
It is really too small to make an educated/accurate guess. How large is it now, and might you be able to post additional photos over the coming months as it grows larger? Perhaps at a larger size will it be easier to ID it.
thanks Mark, its just over 2" right now but growing about 1.5"-2" a month.
from what you have already is there any educated guess you could make? I understand fully that the ID won't be definate until its larger but would be nice to have a opinion on it.
Thanks
Reteos
The wedge shaped caudal bar (the center dark parts) points to Malapterurus murrayi but this species is limited in distribution, not sure what is being shipped (if any) out of Ghana, mind you we see many of the other species of catfish listed from the general area.
are notoriously difficult to nail down to species and we are missing a few (there are I think about 19) from the Cat-eLog yet. I am going to keep looking but can't promiss a definite.
Birger
(pattern looks very much like a juvenile Paradoxoglanis caudivittatus but I know that is just wishfull thinking )
I do not know if it is just my view, but the fish in question has a longer snout that most of the pictures in the catelog. Just looking at the overall head shape, I am leaning towards
Birger thank you so much for looking for me, I owe you! I want to provide the best care for my little catfish so I would like to have an idea of his species, even if we could just nail it down to 2 or 3.
and Nvcichlids I see what you mean about the snout but a quick look at microstoma shows very different black bands, faded and only really one, whereas mine has 2 and they are wedge shaped.
I'l give you a description of his behaviour in case it helps identify him.
He sits often still, in a little piece of tube. several times a day he swims all over the tank and likes to go to the top of the surface and try to sit on plant leaves. I have NEVER felt him shock, and I've had my hand right in there next to him.
I'd suggest exploring the Search function too - second the to the last tab on the right.
I've had the same problems with my e-cats. I guess your answer from the experts is wait til it grows up to maybe a foot or so. They do not grow fast (you saw fast growth but that may be just an initial spurt; mine 5" put on maybe 1"-2" in one year).
Thanks a lot Viktor very helpful links.
I think even along with googling that the one in the first link looks like a m. Electricus, and the guy admitted when it grew up it did look a lot like an electricus. I just had his photos and mine next to eachother and It's pretty obvious they arent the same species. his looks like all the pictures I get when I google "electric catfish" mine looks only vaguely like some of the dried up dead ones on this site.
I've read all these posts and all I can imagine is that you, (Viktor) and Birger are definately the experts on this fish. I've never seen so many catfish in my life than on your photo thread. very nice by the way!
I'm not sure what I have but I'm pretty sure it isn't M. Electricus
Thanks much, mate but IMO Birger is 3 leagues above mine and he has a library of books to help him in his ID endeavors and tons of experience. I might have kept a lot of different cats but it's a different game. Most definitely, I cannot tell various e-cats apart until the Cat-eLog is populated with nice pics of live fish.
Knifegill appears to have made a significant effort in trying to ID his e-cat. You may write him a private message directly.
You probably know it but be careful with trusting google. When known experts tell us they cannot tell the species, what other people write becomes largely irrelevant unless you know they are credible and up-to-date on e-cat taxonomy.
My vague impression is that the malapterus genus got revised and expanded not so long ago and until then, all electric cats have been "id'ed"/called an "electricus", for the lack of better knowledge.
Thread like yours would be of tremendous value if you revisit it say twice a year with updates and pics until your fish is firmly ID'ed and maybe even incorporated into the Cat-eLog.
thats a brilliant Idea, I think I will update this thread every now and then with pictures of my little cat as he grows.
would still be great if Birger could help me a little bit in the right direction. If he asks any specific questions I'm more than happy to help him with them
)
