PlanetCatfish.com

Hi,

I've been spending some time searching the web for rainbowfish when I came across a picture of a fish called anodontiglanis dahli and I was wondering if it's a catfish that's found on the market? It would be nice to know if it's possible to create a biotope tank with australian fish and have native catfish in it.

thanks all,

Andyundefined

Yes, it is a plotosid endemic to Australia. More information is available here. It gets kind of big and has a taste for live fish, so I'd be concerned about one snacking on anything it can fit in its mouth.

Rusty

So it would probably chow down on any and all rainbowfish then? I guess that I won't be trying that setup then.

thanks for the answer,

Andy

Andy wrote:So it would probably chow down on any and all rainbowfish then? I guess that I won't be trying that setup then.

There are smaller species of Eeltail or Tandan Catfish occasionally available that do make suitable tankmates for most Rainbowfish, look at maybe Neosilurus sp. under the listings.

Anodontoglanis are not available at all in the aquarium trade, I believe.

You can find them in shops occasionally if you live in Australia
Sell under the name of "Toothless catfish".

I'm from Aust so I looked it up in my trusty Field Guide which shows it to be from coastal northernmost Australia, not particularly abundant and rather cute.
The Remarks section says that it is typically solitary and feeds by thrusting its head into the sandy bottom for insect larvae,detritus, molluscs and prawns. I have kept small Tandanus tandanus, (which get larger than the Toothless and are known to eat small fish in the wild),with rainbows. They are certainly not aggressive and plant thickets should let you keep both together until the Tandan got to a fair size.
How cold are you, a Tandanus could go into a pond then perhaps? Here where they are native we go to -10 air temp at nights