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I am about 7" TL, not much of a hider, very good eater (now that I appear to be cleansed of internal parasites), very energetic... I even chase around a bit my buddy Cranky - the rambunctious 4-line pim of the same size as I... I appear to recognize my owner and start swimming excitedly in an anticipation of a possibility of food coming my way...

3 more shots of beautiful me

Maybe a species

Birger

Looks like a juvenile of some big sp. I'll guess vaillantii.

generally have quite large eyes. I'm more inclined to think something along the lines of .

Silurus wrote:

Iheringichthys

generally have quite large eyes. I'm more inclined to think something along the lines of

Pimelodus albicans

.

Yes...makes sense

Thank you all!

The Iheringichthys looks kind of close to Pimelodus albicans and between the two, I agree, the latter is closer. Yet, in my novice and ignorant eye, Brachyplatystoma vaillantii looks far closer to my guy. Please take a look again - I will try to attach the pics here for side-by-side comparison - it is somewhat painful to keep jumping between the photos on separate web pages.

now Pimelodus

and now comparison with juvenile Brachyplatystoma valiantti

and lastly with an adult valiantti

What think ye, Senior Colleagues?

Also, any other guesses? Anybody? Votes for voiced guesses? Pointers?

Hi Victor, not that I need to be right but just the way you described its behavior, hungry all the time. And just the size of the head, mouth and fins tells me there's a good chance that fish is going to be big! I still say Brachyplatystoma sp. or something along those lines. I believe he'll probably end up in your pond.

Thanx, guys. If God is willing and your guess is correct - Brachyplatystoma vaillantii - it'd be way cool for him to reach round-abouts of his full potential size at ~42". Seems a rare fish or is it not? Not bad for $10. He was really stressed when I found him at a LFS, all white - I even thought he was melanistic/albino. When I brought him home and started observing day-by-day, he developed right normal color soon but was persistently showing strange behavioral symptoms. He would make sudden, jerky, jarring movements with his head, gills, mouth, tail, and/or whole body almost constantly, every few to 10 sec. It was not a shake (as in something that has a near constant frequency) but rather reactions to what could be random pain pangs or smth of the nature. Outside looked ok. Thus, I thought internal parasites were bothering him. Even after he got the right color, he looked distressed and pathetic. He would eat ok, not gorge himself but ok, and overnight his budding belly would disappear and start looking like he sucks it in. Again, I thought parasites.

Anyway, after eating metronidazole+praziquantel soaked raw shrimp and bloodworms for a week, he got way, way better.

see this thread for a related ID discussion of Ben (Amiidae's) fish http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 13&t=34184

and this too http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 13&t=34169

not a Pimelodus; the eyes are way too high on the head; pimelodus has the eyes situated more to the snout; this is quite visible in the pics.

i tend to think towards Brachyplatystoma as well; but imo the eyes are quite large for a brachy; most of those have pinpoint tiny eyes.....

Any other opinions? Ben (Amiidae)?

Two years and some months later (http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =4&t=36786), I am able to provide updated pics of this fish. Would much appreciate your ID opinions again.

It is about 15" TL now.

...

...

Do any experts on Pimelodidae out there have guesses?

I still think it's a Pimelodus. The snout is too narrow for Brachyplatystoma.

Thanks much, HH. Two years ago I thought it looked closer to B. vaillantii when it was ~7" TL but now I think you were right all along about .

Not that it's important but the slow growth (8" in 2 years) agrees with your ID too. Also the fact that the fish spreads out all its spines and nearly freezes when in a net is a typical Pimelodus trick. Brachyplatystoma appear to choose to flap around to the end.

He looks close to this Cat-eLog pic of where an adult is pictured http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=3187 All other pics are of small fish (of Ben Amiidae's, except one) and don't appear to match my fish (when it was small) well.

May be my eye is off or the Cat-eLog is off. Please tell me what you think about this issue: does my fish when it was 7" look like Ben's fish in Cat-eLog? I'd need to know before I perhaps choose to challenge what's in Cat-eLog. Also, if you were comfortable with the ID, I would send in the pics to be considered for the Cat-eLog.

There are many pages for Pimelodus what I'd call stubs. But it appears that if my fish is a Pimelodus, the only likely species would be the albicans. The size also supports that. My 15" TL fish is already bigger than all other Pimelodus species (having a listed size), except albicans with its ~2' TL adult size.

It's over today for my beloved "Valik", the Pimelodus albicans. Seems a rare fish. I've never seen them for sale anywhere else.

He was a "bar fighter" and he harassed seemingly every other Pim in the pond who dared to come too close to his changing whereabouts.

Half-digested but still alive I found him spat out this morning. Photos are a bit gruesome. The mode of killing is that of my Zungaro zungaros, who've been caught doing this before (http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =+aluminum), so off the bigger one went into a 50,000 gal outdoor pond. "Mug" shots below too.

~6 years of age, SL ~13", TL ~16":

Potential killer:

10.5 years later.

I've never seen another albicans. Our peer Markus has changed this. He sent photos and videos of 2 specimen, that appear to be albicans somewhere in Japan, that he had saved from forums long gone.

Here are 5 photos of one specimen:

Wow, Viktor! That thing has grown big!

Well done!
Eric