PlanetCatfish.com

I've put this in the Asia section but appreciate it could be an African fish. Anyone take a stab at the ID?

This is an African species, most likely .

Thanks

He's just posted this, not sure if this helps to confirm ID? That black band in the tail is weird.

The.Dark.One wrote:That black band in the tail is weird.

Unusual, but not unknown in C. gariepinus (and many other African Clarias). It is mentioned in Teugels’ (1986) account of this species.

Ok, cheers for the ID, I will pass it on.

Nice cat

but when you buy such a thing, in time you'll have to fire up the barbie and invite the rest of the family for an 'all you can eat catfish chow"....

these things really grow big, quite a bit larger than the tankbusting TSN or Red Tail......

adult length can be between 5 or 6 feet!

luckily Clarias are quite good tasting, I've eaten hundreds.
they make a great dinner when BBQed

one of my last Clariids was a C pachynema. that's a species that doesn't outgrow a tank (30-35 cm give or take), but unfortunatey it had a lot of character

once it managed to dominate 5 adult Synodontis granulosa and 5 S njassae, i traded it to someone else.

it's not just size and toughness that make big Clarias so succesful.
they are the "Central American cichlids in the catfish world" when it comes to combining voraciousness and territorial behavior.