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Hi folks. Just got a group of these catfish tonight. Came in as Trichomycterus davisi, although it's longer than the 2.4" the description says it gets (this one is 4.75" long). According to the exporter, it's out of Manaus, caught in the the Rio Negro. Any idea as to what it might actually be?

I'm inclined to think this is T. hasemani. Do you have a better photo?

Here you go. Difficult to photograph as I don't have my photo tank handy.

This is not T. hasemani. Likely to be T. gabrieli, but I'm basing this on the collection locality (if correct). Identifying Trichomycterus accurately to species level is about as easy as doing the same for the brown/gray spotted Hypostomus.

Silurus wrote:This is not T. hasemani. Likely to be T. gabrieli, but I'm basing this on the collection locality (if correct). Identifying Trichomycterus accurately to species level is about as easy as doing the same for the brown/gray spotted Hypostomus.

From the pics I can find of gabrieli, it doesn't look like the fish I have, and the max size is smaller than the largest one in the tank. So, for now, I'll call it Tricomycterus sp. until (if) it can be figured out.

Frank

This is the illustration of the fish in the original description:



Looks pretty similar to your fish if you ask me.

Silurus wrote:This is the illustration of the fish in the original description:



Looks pretty similar to your fish if you ask me.

Actually, it does. But what about the size difference? Fishbase says 5 cm, while mine are about 11 cm. But other than this, the coloration and location match.

For a species that is so infrequently encountered, the size discrepancy is actually quite common. What this means is that the only known specimens reported in the scientific literature are no larger than 5 cm SL. In short, trying to use maximum size to identify species is wildly inaccurate.

I had four of these fish jump from the tank last night (my fault. I added too much water to the tank, allowing them to squeeze through a small hole in the cover). I have them in 95% ETOH. Any idea who might want them for identification purposes?

any for sale frank?

nvcichlids wrote:any for sale frank?

Yep, they are for sale. I'm keeping six so i think there are 10 left. However, it's below freezing here and i don't ship when it's that cold.

Silurus wrote:This is the illustration of the fish in the original description:

This fish has shown up again. The drawing is of T. gabrieli, right?

Jools

Yup