Chrysichthys spp, woodcats, and unknown. Can you help id these.

[minipol]

I got these new cats. The LFS had reduced the prices of these, as they wanted to get rid
of them to put other fish in their tanks. I couldn't pass on this opportunity, and I
have plenty of room for them.

Species 1: This guy jumped out of the tank at the LFS and we only found him after about 4m
to the side of the tank, wedged in between the side of the tank and the wall. We were able
to get him out and he looks fine. That's incredible !
No idea what species he is.





Species 2: I have 3 of these, woodcats?





Species 3: Chrysichthys spp. No idea what species exactely. 2 of them were in 1 tank,
1 in another. They do look like the same species too me.

[KungFish]

The woodcats are definitely

trachelyopterus

. I don't know the species, but they are definitely not

trachelyopterus coriaceus

.

[minipol]

Thanks, I thought they did resemble T. coriaceus a bit. Mine have a spot in the tail fin. Maybe it's because the LFS tank wasn't a very good home for them. Dunno.
If I look at the other Trachelyopterus, none of them seem to look like mine.

[KungFish]

The reason I could rule out coriaceus is because it is the only species of trachelyopterus to lack an adipose fin, which these fish clearly have.

[Marc van Arc]

Trachelyopterus galeatus

These have a quite variable pattern.

Wrt Chrysichthys two guesses:
First fish:

Chrysichthys graueri

juvenile?
Second fish:

Chrysichthys brachynema

?
But I could be way off.

[minipol]

Marc and KungFish,

thanks for the info.
The 1ste bigger one could be Chrysichthys graueri.
The 2nd species Trachelyopterus galeatus
And the last species, Chrysichthys brachynema.

That would indeed make it very nice rare additions
Other people that want to chime in?

[Tanganyikafreak]

Chrysichthys are extremely hard to ID correctly (except for C ornatus), but the mentioned species could very well be spot on.

Congrats on your new species Bene

[minipol]

Thanks, they are nice addition, and if the species are confirmed, it would be very cool
As I said earlier, I am going to build a new tank in the garage, which would allow me to free another tank for more catfish.
Who knows, I might even have room for some Schilbe in the future

[Tanganyikafreak]

Subtle hint towards me, buddy?

[minipol]

To quote a very funny and famous person from Barcelona, I know nothing

[Marc van Arc]

When I was still a member of the Nederlandstalige CichlidenForum (= Dutch Cichlid Forum), you kept Calophysus. Do you still have these?

Also: if you still are in touch with Alex/Sidguppy you could ask him about the Chrysichthys. He might know better than I do.

And another also: are the above fish by any chance obtained from the shop Bijn works?

[Tanganyikafreak]

To quote a very funny and famous person from Barcelona, I know nothing

Easy now, Manuel

[minipol]

Hehehe

@Marc
I sold the Calophysus to a guy with a bigger tank. At the time, I kept them with a couple of pearsei that I was trying to get to breed.
3m is really not to big for the size they obtained. But they were lovely. Great cats
The fish were obtained from that shop. Bijn works in another (bigger) LFS, quite a distance away, and the guy now in charge of the
fish section doesn't really seem to appreciate the odd catfish Bijn brought in.
They were housed way to small, and didn't look good, so I bought them.
I have the room for them, and planning another big tank.

[minipol]

We're 2,5 years on. Since the Chrysichthys moved to a 2m tank. Had to do some shuffeling as I'm down to 2 tanks.
They are housed with the 6 Horabagrus, 1 Synodontis eupterus, a P. delhezi and some dithers.
Here are some new pics.
The 2 smaller Chrysichthys are betweel 12-15cm, the bigger one almost 20cm (guesstimates).

Any idea if the id's still stand?

[minipol]

Here is another picture of the bigger one.
Closest match (judging by the pic on fishbase) seems to still be Chrysichthys brachynema.



The other 2 look similar so maybe they are all Chrysichthys brachynema?

[Viktor Jarikov]

I have had a couple of these Chrysichthys specimen viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36786&hilit=aluminum Never was sure what species they are. They say the most common ones are nigrodigitatus. Also, I think I recall experts like Silurus saying it's mighty hard to tell different drab-looking Chrysichthys apart.

Anyhow, despite the supposed 2' max, mine never exceeded 1'.

[bekateen]

Eggads! That is two odd looking fish!

Thank you minipol for updating the photos. Really neat. (Sorry, I don't know squat about ID'ing these, so I am of no help to you).

Cheers, Eric

[minipol]

Thanks guys. They sure are odd looking fish indeed

[Viktor Jarikov]

One of mine was a rescue (got it in 2011), which was abused and mangled by cichlids for a long time. So when all its body parts grew back, I attributed its odd looks to the injuries.

But seeing one of yours show the same traits, I am not sure anymore. That may be what they develop into over time, I just don't know whether it is in captivity or in the wild too.

I've had both for ~5 years each. The better-looking one was killed by a tank mate, presumably jau catfish in 2013. The rescue died likely of natural causes this year (stomach removed post-mortum by my vulture catfish 6-pack). Don't look if you are sensitive.

non-rescue one viewtopic.php?f=8&t=38993&hilit=aluminum

both https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... st-7670493

Other threads that may or may not help you with ID, etc. I see that a lot of the linked (not uploaded) photos are missing, unfortunately. At least you can read the posts, if you haven't already:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=41166&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39471&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=34830&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=34854&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31221&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32119&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=40402&hilit=aluminum

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31055&hilit=aluminum

[minipol]

Thanks, I will go through the links.
Funny you thought the looks were due to injuries. They do seem alike.
Wonder if anyone can shed some light into the ID.
As suggested in the first posts, I think C. brachynema is still as good a guess as any.
I haven't seen such a growth as to suggest they get to 70cm though.