PlanetCatfish.com

Hi everybody,
Is there anyone have informations about breeding (if anyone bred it !!) of Lophiosilurus alexandri ?
Thanks
Quentin

AFAIK it's never been documented in full. how big is your tank if you are going to try?

Hi Magnum4,
The size of the tank isn't a problem for me because I work in a fish exporter in Brazil and my job consist of breeding fishes to export their after and trying to reduce the rivers samples. So, I have 50 Liters tanks to more of 20 000 L !!!
I want to try to breed Lophiosilurus alexandri in a tank of 10 000 L, where there are 5 sub-adults of Potamotrygon leopoldi (35 - 40 cm of diameter).
I would have informations about the behaviour, the habitat and the breeding's behaviour before trying, but if there is hardly anything in the literatur about it, I will try to study this fish, it's my job !!!
Tchao

What are the water conditions like in the Rio Sao Francisco? is this where you collected yours?

I just purchased a copy of "Catfishes of the World" by Katsuyasu Ejima, and there is a page where the spawning of this species is discussed, along with pictures of the fry.
Downside: it's in Japanese, as is the rest of the book, but what fantastic pictures!

i might be getting 2 speciments this weekend.

anyone know how to sex these cat (6 inches speciment)?

btw, are they hardy ? what's the captive need ?

They appear to be quite hardy, although I have never let my water params slip, so this observation is basically based on the amount of food that they can eat and the waste produced.

Growth is fairly slow (in my experience) with mine going from 11" to 20" in about 12 months, mind you I have never 'power fed' it, just restricting feedings to about once or twice per week.

I have seen Japanese reports of spawning, in fact there is an entire article dedicated to the spawning in "Monster Fish keepers Volume 2" - ISBN 4-938780-80-1, unfortunately I cannot read Japanese .. however the photos are great and there appears to be a cmplete description of the process (water temps, params etc given).

With regards to aquarium habits, this fish is pretty sedentary, only moving when food is present or when being shoved around by tank mates. I use a sand substrate and the fish buries itself for long periods. Food consists of whitefish fillet, shrimp, prawn and mussels .. there is no need to give live foods as this is an adaptable fish, when I had it in a smaller tank it used to take pellets from the surface .. I have a friend with 3 specimens that do this.

Water temp is 82 degrees, zero ammonio, zero nitrite and minimal nitrate readings.

Tank mates are currently a 24" asian aro, a 6" wild oscar and an 18" wallagoo leeri. the tank is 5 x 3 x 3 (not sure how many gallons)

hope this is useful

carl

lophius wrote:They appear to be quite hardy, although I have never let my water params slip, so this observation is basically based on the amount of food that they can eat and the waste produced.

Growth is fairly slow (in my experience) with mine going from 11" to 20" in about 12 months, mind you I have never 'power fed' it, just restricting feedings to about once or twice per week.

I have seen Japanese reports of spawning, in fact there is an entire article dedicated to the spawning in "Monster Fish keepers Volume 2" - ISBN 4-938780-80-1, unfortunately I cannot read Japanese .. however the photos are great and there appears to be a cmplete description of the process (water temps, params etc given).

With regards to aquarium habits, this fish is pretty sedentary, only moving when food is present or when being shoved around by tank mates. I use a sand substrate and the fish buries itself for long periods. Food consists of whitefish fillet, shrimp, prawn and mussels .. there is no need to give live foods as this is an adaptable fish, when I had it in a smaller tank it used to take pellets from the surface .. I have a friend with 3 specimens that do this.

Water temp is 82 degrees, zero ammonio, zero nitrite and minimal nitrate readings.

Tank mates are currently a 24" asian aro, a 6" wild oscar and an 18" wallagoo leeri. the tank is 5 x 3 x 3 (not sure how many gallons)

hope this is useful

carl

thanks for the input Carl...

well, the L . Alex didn't come .. guess will continue to wait...

but at least i got myself a pair of 6incher P. Apurensis !!