Tatia Behavior

[Mooncaller]

The aquatics store that I work for recently had a "Honeycomb Tatia" which I am assuming is Tatia shultzi. I am restructuring all of our freshwater tanks to be as
accomodating for the occupant as possible. Fish, especialy catfish, that I am unfamilliar with, I put in tanks that allow me to spend some time observing behavior. Many years ago, I had a Tatia ( probably T. galaxias). It liked to purch on some driftwood, right under a radican sword. So I put the new Tatia in a 10g planted tank with a piece of driftwood. The driftwood was not were this fish liked to hang out! Instead it chose to place itself within the foliage. It was in no way hidden. Its head would be well past nearby foliage, allways in the brightest lighting the tank had to offer. This fish would hold its body in a bend posture, like a dead fish. The hooks on the pectoral fin spines were used along with the caudal fin, to keep itself in position. I also assume that they were used to launch the fish, because when I would but a little brineshrimp in the tank, it would dart out like a rocket. This action was always way to fast for me to observe. The other interesting thing I noted was that while purched, neither the mouth nor the gills would move. I'm pretty use to catfish, but this guys stillness was amasing. The only movement was inside the mouth as it took in water.

This fish looked dead, especial so concidering its black on vivd wite coloration. The two reasons to mimic something dead is either to attract prey, or to avoid becoming prey. The first does not make sence to me. So, I think that this fish is an ambush preditor that mimics a dead fish to deter predation from things like birds while waiting for dinner. Does this sound reasonable? Is there anyone familiar with this Tatia? So far I have found almost no authoritative info on thing like distribution, habitat, or diet. I am a little suprised by this, as this fish seems to be a very desirable tank occupant.

BTW, please forgive my atrocious spelling. I have never been good at it, and it is very late for me. I would normally do a better edit job, but I am quite tired and my eyes are loosing focus.

[Achim]

Hi,

your fish is most likely Centromochlus (or Tatia) perugiae.
You can find an article about this fish here, or the same article at PC here. A printable .pdf can be found here.
A second article by Harald Burkard will be available as soon as its translated from german.

Greetings,

Achim

[pleco_breeder]

Hello,

I have to agree with the Centromochlus perugiae suggestion. Honeycomb tatia is a common name used by Ekk Will Waterlife in Florida for these fish in their imports. I haven't seen anyone else sell under that name, but it does seem suiting.

Larry Vires

[Mooncaller]

Hi Achim,

Thanks for the link to your artical. It was very helpfull. From the pictures, I believe the
individual I was caring for was a female. After reading your artical, I am more puzzled then ever. Why isn't this fish more common in the hobby? It apears to have everything going for it. Its not picky about water as long as its clean. Its not a fussy eater. It plays nice with others. And it has looks and personality. I have never been that interested in Auchenipteridae. Well, I am interested now; now that I have a better idea about what fishes are in this family. I will definatly be including some of these in a Peruvian river tank I will be setting up soon.

I still have questions considering the locations that the specimen I observed chose to use during the day. The fish was in the store I work for, for over a month. She always could be found perched within fairly dense foliage ( like green headge) toward the uper half of the tank, and under bright light. All three tanks I had put her in contained a variety of structures and lighting conditions ( I set certain tanks up specificly to give the fishes some choices, if I have any questions regarding their requirements). The only time she deviated from this pattern was when some Peruvian Puffers ( Colomeus) were put in her tank on my day off. The next morning while sweeping the floor, I saw her dart across the back of the tank and into a bunch of java fern caught between the tank wall and a rock. I discovered the puffers while investgating this activity, so decided to get a better look at the little cats condition. Sure enough, minor fin nips. I moved her to another simular tank, were she resumed her normal behaviour.

Oh, and thanks a lot for properly identifing what I was caring for:) It sure helps to have the name right when doing searches.

thx bob

[Achim]

Hi,

Why isn't this fish more common in the hobby?

Well, the main reason i think is that its rarely imported. I only saw it once in all my years as aquarist (And right away bought all available . Breeding it isn't that hard, but with that few imports around, it didn't have any chance to spread among aquarists.
Second its nocturnal. That shouldn't be a reason for catfish interested ppl to dislike a species, but imo its a reason for the "common" aquarist not to buy it.

I still have questions considering the locations that the specimen I observed chose to use during the day. ... She always could be found perched within fairly dense foliage ( like green headge) toward the uper half of the tank, and under bright light.

Especially youngsters show that behavior. They are mor surface oriented than the adult and prefer to hide in Riccia etc., if available. However, adults in my tanks prefer plastic tubes, knotholes etc. to hide the day over. If thats missing they will choose any other available hideout, like dense foliage. Most important is that they can make contact with the hideouts "walls" with both pectorals, which is also given in dense foliage.

Greetings,

Achim

[Mooncaller]

Hi

Thanks again for the information. The individual that was in our store was definetly a juvenile, at about 3cm TL. I have been in the hobby since I was 13. My parents had gotten into it when I was 3. I am now in my 40s. I have only seen one other "Tatia" and of course I bought it. That was over 10 years ago. I hope the situation changes. I have only been working in the industry for a few months now ( I'm a Test Engineer/Programmer, bad time for finding employment). From what I have seen, it is not to hard to get serious hobbiests interested in nocturnal fishes. I have sent many Platydoras and Agamyxis home with worthy customers. When talking to customers, I tell them that I think of nocturnals as my private fish. The other tank occupants are for my friends and family to see, but my Raffael is for me. After all, I get to enjoy watching him every night when I feed him. This might be a strange attitude, but other hobbiest friends who keep such fish have similar feelings. Every customer, that I turned on to these sort of fishes, has told me how happy they are with my advice. Oh, BTW, I never chase a fish out so that the customer can see it. Instead, I point out its hideout and show them pictures. If they are still interested, I will let them see one (moving back the lightbar and dropping an algae waffer usualy does the trick). In this way, they get the idea of what owning nocturnal is all about. Its funny, just seeing the tail of a Platydoras sticking out from under a piece of driftwood is sometimes enough to sell a customer on its desirability. I always get a kick out of talking to a hobbiest who says something like "... and I have a Spotted Rafael, I havent seen him in two weeks, but he is realy cool!"

I did not sell our C.perugiae, the store manager did. I was involved however, as the manager did not know if we still had the fish, and were it was. I told the manager and the customer were to look, then spotted her in less then a second. Once the customer saw her, it was an instant sale. Maybe if aquarium store workers did a little better job of educating hobbiests, fish like this would be more popular. Maybe I'm just dreaming:(

[craigfries]

What a fasinating fish! Can anyone suggest a source for F1 fry (preferably) or wild cought. I would like to help popularize this one.

Yours,
Craig