PlanetCatfish.com

Hey folks, Just wanted the point you all towards my recently uploaded Album @

http://eheim-uk.com/planetcatfish/gallery/gallery/ben

I look forward to any feedback on my beloved babies.

Thanks to Tim for providing this great resource. Very nice slick PHP scipt!

Nice fish Ben. I just picked up a 3" Spotted Raphael today, my first Dorid.

i love rapheals, i have a 7'' spotted,he's a big feller.
hey ben,how many spotted u got and how big?

Wow nice pictures! You must have a really good camera.
We have hillstream loaches too. How can you tell if they're male or female?

Hi folks, thanks for visiting my pics I'll answer your questions about them in turn:


smilingSyno: Thanks for the compliment on my pics I'm very happy with my camera, it's new, was a Christmas pressie . Regarding the Hillstream loaches, I had the pleasure of exchanging some emails with a fellow who has succesfully bread a few differnt types of Hillstreams in captivity. He told me that the females tend to be larger, and more rounded in the body. With my two that I have, they were the same size when I first got them, and over the moths have devolpped quite differently. One of them grew much more rappidly than the other, and got a much rounder more filled out body. From what I have been told, this is for egg carrying. Have an other look comparing my two, especially the similar pics of them "admiring" them selves. You'll see what I mean


sharpshootercatfish: WOW, that's a BIG spotted! I didn't think they got that big! I knew the striped do, I though the spotted were restricted to about 4", you must take excelent care of them! I have 2 of them, and they are now about 3", and growing.


gibbo: congrats on youre new Raph. I'm sure you'll enjoy him. If you have room in your tank, you should consider an other. Mine love to play with each other, and you will see a whole new dynamic with more than one.

Thanks again for all your comment folks!

Nice catfish! Is that the giant bumble bee pim or the smaller version(if there is one or am i getting confused?). It looks like its pretty fun to keep! How big does it get max? I want to start a small south american catfish tank now after looking at those pics!

TiGrInUs: Those are the little south amercian ones. I've had these guys for a while, and they stopped growing a couple months ago. I got them at about half and inch, they were so cute Now they are about 2 inches and aren't growing noticably. They are actually the ones in the Cat Fish Of the Month for October 2000. Lots of great info on these guys there. Their eating habbits are hillarious. They love to stuff more food in thier mouths than can fit, and force it down, then getting so bloated in the belly that they can't move for an hour after eating. Puts a whole new spin on the rule my folks had when I was a kid "no swimming for an hour after eating".

TiGrInUs wrote:Nice catfish! Is that the giant bumble bee pim or the smaller version(if there is one or am i getting confused?). It looks like its pretty fun to keep! How big does it get max? I want to start a small south american catfish tank now after looking at those pics!

TiGrInUs,

You have to be careful to buy the right ones, though, as I've seen juveniles of the larger species (<i>Pseudopimelodus</i>) for sale. To make sure that you have the smaller species (<i>Microglanis</i>), just look for a strong contrasting pattern of brown and yellow bands. The big guys don't have very distinct yellow bands...they're more like an overall brown color with some lighter brown patches.