Catfish in Chengdu, China

[Scleropages]

I'm on vacation with my family in Chengdu, China... hometown of my inlaws. I've been keeping an eye out for fish and aquariums. Yesterday, we ate at a restaurant that was selling a few different whiskered species. Check 'em and, if anyone is up to it, ID the ones I don't know. Cheers!







Some sort of Bagridae?



Channel cats (Ictalurus punctatus), I presume.



The following picture didn't come out very well, but they are catfish. TL ~4".


Loaches.



Some sort of carp.



Some type of minnow?



Sailfin suckers (Myxocyprinus asiaticus) and the saddest cichlid (probably Cichlasoma octofasciatum or whatever the current nomenclature is) I've seen in some time--probably didn't enjoy the cool water at all.


Here's a shot of the sturgeon, catfish, and suckers in the basin. They were all ~14-18" TL. There were also some carp-like fish in there that were too smart and fast to let me get a good image.

[Silurus]

Some sort of Bagridae?

Those look like

Tachysurus truncatus

.

I believe those are

Liobagrus marginatus

. Didn't figure they'd be food fish.

[Silurus]

I think these might be Triplophysa siluroides.

Sinibrama taeniatus

[Scleropages]

Thanks, Silurus. I think this place might be both a restaurant and LFS. I'm not sure all the fish were for eating, but then again, my western palate views food sources differently than the Chengdu-nese as evidenced by what my inlaws put in their hot-pot for dinner (at a different, upscale restaurant near downtown)...

Sus scrofa domesticus cerebra

[Silurus]

Oh, it's a restaurant all right. I just didn't think that amblyciptids would be caught for food. But that doesn't really surprise me.

In Asia, the general rule is: if it moves and consists of protein, eat it.

[Scleropages]

These images are from Huang Long Xi... a village about an hour drive southeast of Chengdu that has a "river" running down the center with shops lining both sides.








Channa asiatica



Monopterus albus



The catfish in the tank are the same as in the first picture in this thread. The catfish in the basin were around 12" TL and are a blue-grey color.



Mmmmmmm...

[Scleropages]

This was in a banquet room at a nice hotel in downtown Chengdu. I almost threw up in my mouth a little when I saw what fish were in this beautiful setup, complete with two built-in overflow boxes (one on each side of the tank) and a digital water parameter display...



How about some Uaru amphiacanthoides and Uaru fernandezyepezi, some clown loaches, and some

Panaque cochliodon

(can't leave out catfish!)? I'd also like a a nice red Scleropages formosus in there, but I don't think that tank is big enough to hold one long term. That's what I would have stocked the tank with, if money is no option.

[Silurus]

Channa striata

That's C. asiatica. The one that has FWS and DNRs all in a tizzy.

[Scleropages]

Thanks for the correction. Fixed.

[Viktor Jarikov]

What an enjoyable read. Thanks, Scleropages. Also good to see you keep good company to your inlaws.

What are the red fish in blue tank that turned you off so much?

That's C. asiatica. The one that has FWS and DNRs all in a tizzy.

What's 1. FWS, 2. DNR, and 3. a tizzy?

[Jools]

Tizzy, at least where I'm from, and used in this context would mean in a frantic state.

Jools

[Suckermouth]

What's 1. FWS, 2. DNR, and 3. a tizzy?

1. Fish & Wildlife Service
2. Department of Natural Resources

[Scleropages]

Viktor, the reddish fish are "parrot cichlids"--artificially manufactured fish. As such, they cannot produce offspring. When I used to professionally do aquarium maintenence, they were a big hit with my Asian clientelle (along with "flowerhorn cichlids"). Personally, I don't get why one would raise a fish that will eventually lay non-viable eggs and guard them ferociously, many times to the detriment of their tankmates (as I have observed numerous times with these fish). If I have to put up with large south/central American cichlid breeding/guarding behavior in one of my tanks, I'd want to have the opportunity to harvest/raise the fry. But, that's just my opinion.

[Scleropages]

From the Ren Ren Le supermarket we visited yesterday...

Keep your panties on, FWS & DNR!



Pretty sure these are

Ameiurus nebulosus

. I wanted to find whoever was maintaining these tanks and yell at him/her. Way too many floaters in this one.



My new favorite brand of rice (heheheh!)...

[Viktor Jarikov]

I thought they were parrots but some of them striked me as not-really-parrot-looking. To me, they are as desirable as certain awfully disfigured, barely-swimming goldfish produced for the "consumer's pleasure".

[Scleropages]

After the Ren Ren Le grocery, we visited Chengdu's public aquarium...



That would be me...



I'm happy to report that, in addition to the sharks, dolphins, stingrays, volitans lionfish, moray eels, sea turtles, and other fauna that you would expect in a large public aquarium, they had some catfish...

There were about twelve

Phractocephalus hemioliopterus

in this tank, none smaller than 24" TL. That is a Gymnarchus niloticus in the background. I tried my best to get a good shot of it, but my point-n-click camera wasn't up to the task.



My daughter was very impressed with the

Phractocephalus hemioliopterus

. When she gets a little older, I can just hear her now: "I don't want a puppy, daddy. I want a RTC!"



They also had an Arapaima gigas (~42" TL) in the same tank for good measure.



Different tank here... I always like checking out Osphronemus goramy as I rarely see them in the trade in the US. You can see a little

Pterygoplichthys pardalis

or similar pleco here. Too bad they didn't have any giant panaque.



This one was the most popular fish in the gourami tank with the Chinese visitors. I guess blondes really do have more fun...

[Silurus]

Did you try visiting a market just to see what fishes are available? I've always found markets to be the best source of unusual species (although this is less likely in a large city like Chengdu).

[Scleropages]

Two places I've requested we visit:
1. A fish market
2. A good LFS

I'm not sure we'll make it to either this time around. Our schedule is constantly squeezed by the protracted meals they like to have here.

[Stackdeck]

Great series of pics, thanks for sharing.

IMO, the snakeheads don't quite look like asiatica...

[Silurus]

IMO, the snakeheads don't quite look like asiatica...

Channa argus, then.

[Scleropages]

As I don't have much experience with snakeheads, I will defer to the Singapore fish-heads.

[Scleropages]

I recently visited Chengdu with my family again. This time, I did some research to find out where the good aquarium shops are. It led me to visit the pet market on Xinkai Street just south of Tianfu Square. The amount of fish shops on that street is overwhelming. I've never seen anything like it before. It felt kind of like when I was in my teens and visited one of the bigger importer/wholesalers in my area for the first time in 1990--when the U.S. economy was strong and every tank they had was fully stocked. It was so great to see--especially as my favorite fish (Scleropages formosus) was in abundance at many of the shops. I tried to take pics of all of the catfish I saw. Not sure about all of the species names, so if you want to chime in with IDs, it would be appreciated.

If you're ever in Chengdu, this is where you need to go (especially if you like Silver and Asian arowanas, koi, goldfish, and parrot cichlids--which seemed to be the most plentiful species)...


Tiger shovelnose (Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum), RTC (Phractocephalus hemioliopterus)


They were moving so fast, this was the best I could do...


Paroon sharks - Pangasius sanitwongsei


Tigrinis shovelnose - Brachyplatystoma tigrinum


L-number?


L-number?


Interesting mix: C. frontosa & some form of Royal Panaque (L-190 perhaps?)


Soribum lima


Oxydoras niger?


Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (and Distochodus sexfasciatus)


Synodontis eupterus


Some sort of Clarias sp. I presume


Hybrids, I assume


And, lastly, while it's not a catfish, if I had my druthers, I would have taken this ~8" TL beauty home with me:


Gan bei!

[amiidae]

Thanks for the photos.
I find that those fishes in the restaurant or market are more interesting than those in their LFS. LOL !

and yes... Gan Bei !