PlanetCatfish.com

any experiences with these guys? opinions? observations?

I've had them years ago; but I can tell you this:
-very peaceful
-not too big, a huge Zamora ranges about 5-6" or so
-very shy and nocturnal
-social, best to keep a small group or even a shoal (3-7)
-loads of hiding places, wood or plants, but they prefer wood, pvc pipe, pottery etc
-males have more black in the anal fin, and a more 'hooked' anal.
-they're safe with anything, except neon-size fish or smaller. Fish the size of a female Guppy or bigger, are usually safe.

Corydoras and the like are fine with them, anything bigger is OK, as long as it isn't territorial; they can easily get bitten by aggressive Syno's or other "colorful " catfish!
They can be thrusted with gentle slowmoving Loricariids (like Whiptails and Twigcatfishes) and even slow moving longfinned fish. They combine badly with most cichlids, aggressive Syno's, dwarfgiraffenose, the more fanatic Pims and others with a bit of character.

You need to feed in the evening or after the lights go down too; they're even more nocturnal than most Dorads and this increases when they mature.

after they get acclimated, will they actually shoal around together at night if given enough cover? i was thinking of getting a few i saw at a lfs to add to a well-planted tank with a large school of cories and a pair honey gouramis.

Yes, they will. But like all auchenipterids, they are very skittish, and not easily seen in the open, even when the lights are out.

Had mine for about 3 months now. It either stays vertical adjacent to the powerhead or intake tube on the filter. Never seen it swim or eat very boring.

Did you provide any hiding room for it? They normally go up against filters only if there is no hiding space provided, or if all the spaces are full and they get chased out.

so they should be fine in a well-planted, underpopulated tank with several rock caves?

Yup, they should be fine, although they prefer driftwood and/or PVC pipes to hide in.

i have a some "underground-type caves" made from pvc pipes buried under the gravel as well...so they should be as happy as a seclusive nocturnal catfish can be.

They're not much of burrowers though, so how would they get to the pipes?

ah, the pipes aren't completely buried...the openings aren't anyway. under the gravel and under a couple larger rocks, i constructed a miniature "maze" (it's far less complicated than that, really) from small pvc pipes with openings above the gravel in 3 spots, behind a rock and in other inconspicuous places, etc...

this way, i get the usefulness of pvc without the general drag on the natural aesthetics presented by strips of white pipes amongst a pretty planted tank.

alright, so i went out and bought 5 zamoras on monday. i also added some driftwood in addition to the rock caves and pvc. 2 of them seem to conform to most everything i've read about these guys: they come out a bit at night but otherwise stay hidden in one of the various hiding places i've provided 90% of the time. the other 3, HOWEVER...swim around a lot, and they use much more of the middle strata of the aquarium that i'd expected. they seem to school around with each other, even during the day at some points. for instance, at around noon today, these 3 were following each other about, swimming the distance of the tank in a very calm manner, anywhere from the bottom to the middle-top of the tank. isn't this unusual??

they don't appear stressed at all, quite the opposite, they appear very relaxed indeed. they hide in some of the spots at times, but everything i've read points out the reclusiveness of this species, yet these 3 appear friendly and sociable! what's going on here? everything else in the tank (corys and honey gouramis) is pretty passive as well, so there isn't a lot of excitement to spook them...but i definitely didn't expect them to be cruising about the way they are.

Zamora cats are one of the less reclusive auchenipterids, so it isn't really surprising to see them out. I'd say that with the right setup, you can usually get auchenipterids to come out during the day. I've gotten <i>Tatia</i> to come out this way and they're a lot more difficult to coax out of hiding than zamora cats.

very cool. the setup should be perfect for them...i think it was pretty well designed to start, and i took your advice on adding driftwood. i think the docile demeanor of the tank's other inhabitants probably encourage the zamoras to be a bit more outgoing, as well. in any event, i'm very pleased both that they seem relaxed already and that they're out enough to really enjoy.

thanks!

I have a planted tank w/driftwood and other "cave" locations. Still prefer vertical next to powerhead. Never seen go anywhere else even w/lights off. Must be active in the middle of the night because I never seen it eat but it's still there.