Page 1 of 1

An African shovelnose cat?

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 02:12
by RickieH
It looks like a bagrus or a mystus and has eight barbels with two very long (?)maxillary barbels it has a silvery gray color and fork tail with a filamentous extension on the upper part of the tail fin. It's 3 inches and comes out whenever I feed the tank and actively eats everything it can stuff into its mouth. It does not (yet) pick on other fish in its tank. It cost me just under $15.00 US dollars. I will try to get a photo and figure out how to put it on this computer. I was wondering if you had any ideas as to what it might be???

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 02:27
by corybreed
It is difficult to identify with out a photo. Does it have nasal barbels? Have you checked the cat-elog?

Mark

two small nasal barbels and

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 03:26
by RickieH
two long maxillary barbels and four barbels underneath. It looks most like a bagrus bajad.

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 03:59
by Silurus
Sounds like .

maybe ....but.......

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 04:39
by RickieH
It doesn't look like it has the black line down the lateral line and it seems to have a longer adipose fin with a tiny brown spot near the base of the adipose fin.
He's in a 55 gallon with 4 red hook metynis and a leporinus and a halequin lancer which has now started coming out at feeding time too possibly now for fear that the (?)
bagridae fish will eat it all?
I will try to get a picture. He is a cool fish.

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 05:21
by Silurus

I think you hit it on the head

Posted: 22 Oct 2007, 23:05
by RickieH
It looks just like the sperata aor silver colored juvenile pictured in your cat-e-log except that the adipose spot is smaller. It also has a touch of white on the edge of some of the fins that my fish also has.

But I thought that the LFS manager said that his supplier gets them from Africa. And the one other difference was that the caudal fin had a filamentous extension on top but otherwise it looks very much the
same.

I never heard of Sperata before, any advice as to when it will get vicious as I don't want my harlequin lancer to get killed but would like to keep this one for as long as I'm able to.

I have two pictures

Posted: 23 Oct 2007, 04:52
by RickieH
but their stuck in kodak shareware and i haven't yet figured out how to transfer them so that i could send them to planet catfish for a positive ID. :?: