Cats Native to Malawi

Hypancistrus · Post by **Hypancistrus** » 15 Oct 2005, 23:04

Hi all,

I have a few African Cichlids that are indigenous to Lake Malawi in Africa. I'd like to eventually keep them with some catfish, but am unsure if any catfish are native to Malawi. I know that Synodontis multipuncatatus is often touted as a good fish to keep with Africans, but I'd like to keep this at least slightly geographically accurate if possible, and S. multipunctatus hails from Tanganyika. Are there any cats native to Malawi that could live in a large (55-75 gallon) tank with African Cichlids? The water paramters would be typical Rift Lake parameters- pH = 8.2, high hardness, etc.

Thanks in advance.

Post by **Silurus** » 15 Oct 2005, 23:20

There's .

Hypancistrus · Post by **Hypancistrus** » 16 Oct 2005, 00:09

Thanks Silurus!!

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 16 Oct 2005, 08:58

Apparently the Giraffe catfish (Auchenoglanis occidentalis) lives there too. It's not only seen in rivers, but also in the big lakes. It's not endemic to Lake Malawi though.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 16 Oct 2005, 14:11

Auchenoglanis does not occur in Lake Malawi, nor as a non-endemic fish.

see HERE

only four species of cats from Malawi are "suitable" for the fishtank;
Synodontis njassae, Chiloglanis neumanni, Zaireichthys (syn Leptoglanis) rotundiceps and Bagrus orientalis.

the Chiloglanis and Zaireichthys both are very small, unfortunately they get rarey imported, probably because they're both hard to catch (tiny critters, big rocks) and also because fishcatchers are likely to ignore small brown critters with all the fancyful colored cichlids around.

Bagrus orientalis reaches 45 cm -wich is quite large- a size wich should be OK for a large tank. I have never even seen a picture of a live one, only 1 picture of a dead one. it looked to be a spotted fish with a slim outline and long whiskers, reminding me of several Pimelodus species.
Many Pimelodids get larger and those DO get imported.....

The other catfishes (12 species of Bathyclarias and the huge Bagrus meridionalis) are all far too large or occur too deep or both to make them even remotely suitable for any fishtank.

So the only available true Malawian is Synodontis njassae; this one too is rare in imports; most LFS that offer njassae either sell ocellifer or nigrita with a "njassae-pricetag" or try to foist off Tzech hybrids as such.

Post by **corybreed** » 16 Oct 2005, 14:12

Auchenoglanis occidentalis are great pets but they grow too large for a 55-75 gallon tank. I beleive Synodontis njassae is now considered endangered and is seldom seen in the hobby today.

Mark

TalenT · Post by **TalenT** » 16 Oct 2005, 14:36

Found another (maybe) interesting cat on that list: Clarias theodorae "Snake catfish", By the name you would guess that it has an elongate body shape (like Gymnallabes) and an elongated fish at 35cm TL isn't a VERY BIG fish, maybe suitable for home aquaria?

Slightly OT... Anyone ever seen any of those Barbus and Labeo species in the hobby? And what about the mormyrids? (this seems interesting: Pollimyrus castelnaui 9cm TL)

Hypancistrus · Post by **Hypancistrus** » 16 Oct 2005, 15:39

So I guess that would put me back at Synodontis multipunctatus. Kind of irksome to not be geographically accurate, but I could get over that- I hate having a tank with no catfish. Would Cuckoo Cats adapt to a pH of ~8.2? I've heard that the pH of Tanganyika is higher than Malawi and Victoria.

Post by **Birger** » 16 Oct 2005, 17:45

Bagrus orientalis reaches 45 cm -wich is quite large- a size wich should be OK for a large tank. I have never even seen a picture of a live one

In the Burgess atlas on page 498 there is a picture of a Bagrus orientalis with a question mark attached, just wondering if this is really the fish talked about,It shows it slim,black spots on a silver background with a white belly,similiar to what Sid described.
If it is it would make a nice addition to a "large" Malawi tank.

Birger

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Oct 2005, 18:10

Synodontis petricola "dwarf" and multipunctatus are both commonly available and will adapt quite well to 8.2, with no problems. Just keep an eye on your cichlids if you keep them with multis. Mine hadn't ever spawned with anything, so when I moved them in with my yellow labs and peacocks the idea that they'd immediately go to spawning didn't occur to me. Well, right until I noticed a yellow lab with a dark colored chin that is. They really DO have mouths too small to try to get multi fry out of if you leave them more than a few days!

Barbie

Post by **Silurus** » 16 Oct 2005, 18:17

Birger, the fish in question is . Young Bagrus have spots which they lose with age.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 17 Oct 2005, 03:51

That was what I thought as B orientalis indeed.

now I'm very curious about what the elusive Bagrus orientalis looks like.

Post by **Silurus** » 17 Oct 2005, 04:03

Picture from FishBase:

Most of them look pretty much alike anyway.