Tiny eel-like catfish from north east India. Looks like chinese dragon.
Posted: 24 Mar 2020, 20:12
I will add photos as soon as I can but these are hard to photograph and a drawing might actually be more informative.
I'm a competent fishkeeper but have no specific knowledge about catfish and I would really, really appreciate any help in Identifying two I've just bought. I know it's not necessarily wise to buy unidentified animals but the shop was going into covid19 lockdown and I didn't fancy their chances locked down in a crowded shop tank - also they are amazing and look like tiny chinese dragons.
Two of them came into my local fish shop mixed in among Pillaia indica dwarf spineless eels and as they are very similar in size and appearance I can only assume they were collected from the same habitat in north-eastern India at the same time as the eels.
They are very, very eel-like and have a similar body shape and sinuous motion to things like khuli loaches. The reason I'm assuming they are catfish is that they have 8 whiskers arrayed around their mouths, one pair of which is much longer than the others, and their heads are perfect miniature replicas of a wells catfish. They are both approximately 9cm long. They have a spiny dorsal fin that lies flat most of the time but tends to be erect like a sail when they are swimming. The pectoral fins are relatively large and spread out sideways like wings and both the pectoral and dorsal fins are quite far forwards towards the head.
I've seen them swimming to the surface as if they are gulping air but don't know if this is actually what they're doing, most of the time they tend to hang out in a hollow they dug out underneath some bogwood in the tank and they seem to like to stick together. They're feeding on frozen bloodworm and cyclops and tend to sit with just their heads emerging from under the wood or some plants but when they're out foraging around in the substrate they appear to use their anal fins like legs to help 'walk' themselves across the substrate. The tail fin looks like a tadpoles tail but shaped like a sharks.
The owner of the shop had no idea what they were beyond 'funny looking eels' but for some reason we both had the impression that these will grow much larger. I couldn't tell you why, it's just a hunch, and maybe only because they look a little bit like wells catfish which are huge.
They are a light brownish golden colour with faint mottled stripes running the length of their bodies. Being so small they're also partially transparent but do appear to have defined scales.
If you imagine a tiny african ropefish with 8 whiskers and a few extra fins you've pretty much got the right idea about how they look.
Based on the information available to me about the habitat of the eels they were with I have added some extra bogwood and a few oak leaves to their tank.
If anyone can help me with identification or specific care tips I would really appreciate it. I was thinking of offering them some chopped up earthworm in addition to the frozen food and maybe try to see if they'll take sinking pellets.
Thanks for your time.
I'm a competent fishkeeper but have no specific knowledge about catfish and I would really, really appreciate any help in Identifying two I've just bought. I know it's not necessarily wise to buy unidentified animals but the shop was going into covid19 lockdown and I didn't fancy their chances locked down in a crowded shop tank - also they are amazing and look like tiny chinese dragons.
Two of them came into my local fish shop mixed in among Pillaia indica dwarf spineless eels and as they are very similar in size and appearance I can only assume they were collected from the same habitat in north-eastern India at the same time as the eels.
They are very, very eel-like and have a similar body shape and sinuous motion to things like khuli loaches. The reason I'm assuming they are catfish is that they have 8 whiskers arrayed around their mouths, one pair of which is much longer than the others, and their heads are perfect miniature replicas of a wells catfish. They are both approximately 9cm long. They have a spiny dorsal fin that lies flat most of the time but tends to be erect like a sail when they are swimming. The pectoral fins are relatively large and spread out sideways like wings and both the pectoral and dorsal fins are quite far forwards towards the head.
I've seen them swimming to the surface as if they are gulping air but don't know if this is actually what they're doing, most of the time they tend to hang out in a hollow they dug out underneath some bogwood in the tank and they seem to like to stick together. They're feeding on frozen bloodworm and cyclops and tend to sit with just their heads emerging from under the wood or some plants but when they're out foraging around in the substrate they appear to use their anal fins like legs to help 'walk' themselves across the substrate. The tail fin looks like a tadpoles tail but shaped like a sharks.
The owner of the shop had no idea what they were beyond 'funny looking eels' but for some reason we both had the impression that these will grow much larger. I couldn't tell you why, it's just a hunch, and maybe only because they look a little bit like wells catfish which are huge.
They are a light brownish golden colour with faint mottled stripes running the length of their bodies. Being so small they're also partially transparent but do appear to have defined scales.
If you imagine a tiny african ropefish with 8 whiskers and a few extra fins you've pretty much got the right idea about how they look.
Based on the information available to me about the habitat of the eels they were with I have added some extra bogwood and a few oak leaves to their tank.
If anyone can help me with identification or specific care tips I would really appreciate it. I was thinking of offering them some chopped up earthworm in addition to the frozen food and maybe try to see if they'll take sinking pellets.
Thanks for your time.