Tatia Perugiae

[bunjiweb]

Got some of these in at work, thought i would grab a couple... Think i might get some more though!..

Very cool little catfish, if a little shy..







Ben

[Jon]

Shy nothing. Come feeding time, they'll rocket all around the tank, akin to miniature white and black cruise missiles. Beautiful fish you've got there.

[bunjiweb]

Can't wait to see what you describe tomorrow... if there is no darting like missiles i shall be upset ;)

Ben

[SanDiegoFishes]

These are a lovely catfish, I had some along time ago. They hid all day long in the potted plants (mostly swordplants), at night when I dropped in frozen bloodworms or live blackworms, the place went crazy! Then, they hid again, although I assume when lights are out, they are quite active.
Keep us posted on how yours do!
Best, Barb

[pturley]

They are somewhat fragile however...

I'd let these settle in a couple of days before bringing any home.
These fish are highly susceptable to ICH and Mycobacterium infections and rarely survive a bout with either.
Ask me how I know!

Keep them in clean moderately hard water and quarantine for at least a week at 80-84F to prevent ICH.

[kev]

my lfs has some of these aswell, i was thinking about having a go at breeding them, has anyone had any luck with this? they are very cute and seemed to have settled in well in the shop.

Kev.

[Bigcat]

The following is a correspondence between myself and Steve Smith on the spawning of this fish now called Centromochlus perugiae. The first picture you have posted (in the bag)shows a male as these use internal fertilization so he needs the correct "tool" to do the job. Notice the anal fin is elongated and rather rigid and thin, the females have a regular anal fin and anybody that knows livebearers will understand what I'm refering to here. The female will guard the eggs in a cave as well as initiating all the courting and spawning activity. I would copy the link and past it into your web browser to learn more as Steve did a nice job describing this. I tried posting some pictures for you all but was unable to do so. Paul Turley recieved 3 of the original f1 fry back in 2002 and recently I just reaquired 8 more of those original f1's as well to mix in with the group I currently keep. He is correct in you should wait to buy any until you see how they settle in, I would not however recommend keeping them at that high of a temperature as they come from fairly cool temperatures in the Columbian highlands. The Ich problem can be very disasterous in any of the naked cats but I have revived these before using "Nox-Ich" at half strength over a period of a week with frequent water changes being made. It was also caught fairly early on before it could really take a toll. Good Luck, Hope this helped out. Jeff Natterer



Subj: Re: Centromochlus Perugiae
Date: 1/25/03 6:07:05 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: ssmith1@fuse.net
To: VOODOOBLUEJRN@aol.com
Sent from the Internet




THANK YOU FOR THE HELP!!!!!!

A while back my basement cooled off and your advice had been taken about hardening the water. At first they didn't like using my tap water with water changes, but they were ok with me adding some crushed oyster shells to the filter which gradually hardened the water and now they're ok with tap water changes. So a couple of weeks ago a couple of 3/8 inch charcoal gray motor boats appeared at the water surface to eat.
http://home.fuse.net/fishfarmer/TatiaPe ... aysold.jpg

I fed the adults well and did a cold water change and a couple of days later spotted a female in a PVC tube with a mass of white eggs just ahead of herself. She sat in the tube near the eggs and wiggled (just like an ancistrus male
guarding eggs) for 4 days (74F) at which point they started to spin out of the eggs and stayed white for a few more days while they absorbed the egg sack. The female has stayed in the tube for these additional days wiggling. The fry are now gray and she stays in the tube with the few that have stayed in there. Most have left and have not been seen again (yet-hopefully they will appear at the surface to eat later). A second female has laid eggs in a different tube which I moved to a different tank in which I can see things better and maybe gey a higher yield. The female(s) do not come out of the tube even at blood worm feeding time which usually is a sure fire way to see them.

I've upped the temperature to 77F.

Thanks again.

Steve
Cincinnati
----- Original Message -----
From: VOODOOBLUEJRN@aol.com
To: ssmith1@fuse.net
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 9:50 PM
Subject: Re: Centromochlus Perugiae


Congratulations on an excellent purchase!!!! These are by far my favorite catfish and believe me I've got more than a couple. Tatia (now Centromochlus) perugia are one of the easiest to keep and breed that I have. DO NOT soften the water unless you know the exact collecting location as these fish come from from a very diverse environment. Mine are kept in a 10 gallon tank, 2 males and one female (the rest were lost for various reasons over the last 3 years). They are at a pH of 7.5, moderate hardness(150- 250 ppm) on a sand substrate with java fern and moss scattered through the tank. There are various pieces of 1" pvc pipe partially buried in the sand. According to Ingo (Siedel) they use these as spawning sites), I have not been able to confirm this. The female will become huge around the belly and start to initiate breeding with one of the males(it doesn't appear to matter which one). At this point the male will try to pin the female up against something and internally fertilise her as livebearers do. They will look like cichlids during this routine with alot of head and tail slapping, biting etc. etc. I have been unable to see any eggs anywhere in the tank (and boy was I watching/ looking for them). Approx. 2-3 wks. after noticing the females belly retract to normal size, fry 3/8" big were discovered one morning swimming about like the adults looking for food.All the lights had been turned out the previous night prompting this activity. Normally a night light is left on and I feel that in the wild the fry will not venture forth until it is totally dark. How did I miss 40 three eighths inch fry until then? That is the big question. The tank was checked 4 times a day with a flashlight and nothing was discovered. The other amazing thing is that there are Malaysian livebearing snails in the tank and these fry escaped their predation. The parents didn't seem to care that the fry were swimming about so I left them there. Second thoughts set in so I caught all the fry one by one with a turkey baster and put them into their own 10 gal. tank. This tank was bare with 2 sponge filters and some floating plants (real and fake), as the fry seem to like hiding in them. They are now 1/2 to 3/4" big (60 days later) eating crushed flake food and for all intents looking just like the parents. They start out translucent up to 1/4" (prior disaster where all fry were lost due to operator idiocy). when they get to the 3/8" size they are dark charcoal grey top and bottom. This fades on the bottom first and at this point they will actually come out with the lights on to eat. As they mature they fade keeping the spot pattern the adults have. Hope this helps you out a little ,feel free to e-mail me with your progress or with any more questions.
Good Luck,
Jeff

[fishfarmer]

My web site at fuse.net was taken down a month ago and I am in the process of setting up a new one at
http://home.cinci.rr.com/fishfarmer/
and my email has changed to fishfarmer@cinci.rr.com

In the mean time I got a colony of Tatia Galaxias and have had a couple of groups of fry from them under very similar conditions, except the Galaxias scatter their eggs around the tank, making collection a bit more difficult.

Steve

[bunjiweb]

Some more (clearer) pics... Very interesting fish!







Ben[/img]