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I found a new little wonder.
My husband works in a pet store, he has been telling me about these Orange-banded catfish.
We bought four of them today.
They didn't have a scientific name for them.
They are supposed to grow to 2 1/2 inches long. They burrow in the gravel.

I'm unsure of how to feed them. I don't know if they stay burrowed or if they come out at all.

I was thinking of live blood worms maybe.

Does anyone have any info on these guys. I'm gonna search the site for any possible info.

Thanks for any help.

Jen

Sounds like the undescribed Laguvia that has been exported from India recently:



I think you will need to feed them live food only. Dinyar or Rusty should be able to tell you more about this fish.

Could also be the undescribed Akysis from Myanmar:



in which case, Achim can tell you more about them.

Thank-you so much!
It is amazing how you can do that.

The first one is definitely the catfish I have.

Would kind of live food would you suggest?

Jen

Would kind of live food would you suggest?

Small blackworms or microworms. Bloodworms might do it also.

Yes, this fish is sold as "orange banded catfish" or "banded stone cat". We got about 20 of them a month ago, and unfortunately more than half have died. They did fine for the first two weeks, but started to fungus thereafter (though all the other quite sensitive fish they share the quarantine tank with, e.g., Gagata cenia are fine). We initially thought they were dying because they were not feeding, but some detective work with a flashlight in the dark (the only time you'll get to see them closely) revealed that many of the live fish had incipient signs of fungus. Upon stirring up our substrate, we found it contained some (but not a lot) of organic debris. Treatment with Formalin seems to have slowed the death rate. Next step is to remove the fish temporarily and thoroughly clean out the gravel.

This is definitely NOT an easy fish to keep, though a fun fish if you can keep it alive. It requires cool, clean water, with a strong current. As discussed above, very clean tank conditions appear to be a must. It will readily feed on small live foods such as blackworms. However, it is not likely to compete effectively for food against other fish. A tank with similar species (e.g., "Hara horai") or a species tank is probably the best way to go.

If I may ask, how much did you pay for your fish?

Dinyar

I believe they were 4.99 each.

Thanks for all of the help. I really appreciate it.
Hopefully they will do ok.
I will definitely keep up on water quality for them. I will also try out some live foods.

but some detective work with a flashlight in the dark (the only time you'll get to see them closely)

I was doing that last night.

Jen

We switched our remaining orange-banded cats to a tank with a sand substrate and stopped losing them immediately. Don't know if there is a direct causal relationship, but anyway, I'd advise anyone keeping these fish to keep them in sand.

Dinyar

Depiste the name (burmese_orange_banded_hillstream_cat.jpg) is this the <I>Laguvia</i>? The barbles look more like <I>Akysis</i> mind you. Maybe what I am asking is how do you tell the two genera apart?



Thanks to doctorzeb for the pic.

Jools

is this the Laguvia?

Nope, it's an Akysis. Probably the undescribed Ataran species.

Maybe what I am asking is how do you tell the two genera apart?

There should be fewer bony processes in an Akysis. For one, it would be lacking a pair on each side of the back of the head.
Actually, you can probably tell them apart by very subtle color differences, but it takes some experience.

I just wanted to post an update.

All four of my Orange-banded catfish are doing great! I have seen all four alive and well. No fungus at all.

I was feeding live blood worms, but I don't think the catfish were eating any. I think my other fish were getting to them first.
However they seem to be hanging out in parts of my tank where there is algae. I think they are either eating the algae, or the micro-organisms that live within the algae.

Jen

We just collected some in the wild and I can tell you a little more about their habitat. The fish were found in a small river with a bottom of fine sand, with a moderately fast current and clear, cool water. The river was in the plains of north Bengal, and as such, had completely no rocks for a low-gradient river of its kind.
The fish seemed to congregate most in clumps of aquatic grasses growing in areas where the current was stronger and a steep incline had formed in the river bed, as there were practically absent in other parts of the river.