False Tigernose Catfish

[Industrial]

One of my LFS has a 6" "False Tigernose Catfish". This fish seems to be the owners pride and joy. It's like 25 dollars and he said that a true tigernose catfish costs much more. The tail fin ends in a white string like it has been stretched out at the top. At first I thought this was some bad birth defect.

Also, the fish appears to be nocturnal. He always puts a feeder in for a few minutes and every time as soon as he shuts the light off, the fish eats it.

What could this fish be?

[Silurus]

What kind of color pattern does it have?

[Industrial]

I cannot remember the colors, I am thinking that it was a darker color (brown black or gray). It may have had spots too, but I am not completely sure.

[MatsP]

Pseudoplatystoma sp_hybrid(1)

perhaps?

--
Mats

[MatsP]

Or some other hybrid formed from a tiger shovelnose and something else...

--
Mats

[Industrial]

Pseudoplatystoma sp_hybrid(1)

perhaps?

--
Mats

It kind of looks like it. But the tail fin is definitely the recognizable characteristic. The bottom half of the tail fin looks normal, but the top half appears to be streched out really thin. The top half is very long.

[Bijn]

Maybe

Hemibagrus olyroides

?

[Industrial]

Maybe

Hemibagrus olyroides

?

That one is definitely not the fish, but it was a good guess.

The tail is much longer, thinner and stretched looking at the top. I am pretty certain that this is a south american catfish. I remember that this guy orders from segrest farms pretty often, so I think I will browse their site to try to find the catfish.

[Industrial]

Okay, here is what I got.

http://www.segrestfarms.com/index.cfm?f ... ebra-.html

But the tail is much more like http://www.segrestfarms.com/index.cfm?f ... icans.html . It is more streched looking. It is thicker at the base where the white starts, but then it thins down to like this picture. This catfish is definitely not the one in the store though.

I am thinking it is a false tigrinus. But from what I have seen online, the tail isn't normally like that. Also, I don't believe if it had stripes they were that distinct. So a possible hybrid?

[Silurus]

Brachyplatystoma platynemum

?

[Industrial]

It could be that too. It's not as thin looking as in the pictures, perhaps it is either really photogenic or a diet of a couple rosys a day is making it fat.

It looks like I will have to take a picture next time I am there.

[Richard B]

We're all making some astute suggestions but i can't get over the price of $25 - it seems way too low...

[Bijn]

Are you sure it's a catfish?




Check the tail of this fish: Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni (AKA the false shovelnose sturgeon)

[Industrial]

We're all making some astute suggestions but i can't get over the price of $25 - it seems way too low...

With more expensive fish he said he will go as low as double the cost of wholesale. But at 12.50 that is still really cheap. He mentioned that the only reason he even has one is because this is a false tigernose. He doesn't like to buy expensive fish and the normal one would have been a lot more.

Are you sure it's a catfish?




Check the tail of this fish: Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni (AKA the false shovelnose sturgeon)

haha, definitely not the sturgeon, but good find.

[MatsP]

I agree with Richard - whatever it is, if it's a Pimelodidae of the larger types, $25 is a bargain - even if it's a hybrid. The true tigers at Pier were a few hundred pounds - £310 or £340 seems to come to mind - nearly $500 in US currency.

--
Mats

[Viktor Jarikov]

Brachyplatystoma tigrinum (true tigrinus catfish), about 3-4", locally is anywhere from $250 to $350. Brachyplatystoma juruense (false tigrinus catfish; flash zebra) same size is about $35-$50. "The Fish Place" in Buffalo often has these although I've seen them in other places - "Markheim's Pets", Lockport's "Pets Plus"... I am from Rochester, Industrial.

[Viktor Jarikov]

If this is smth unique, which it may be, a photo would be of tremendous help and interest to all parties involved, I am sure... Which shop are you talking about?

[grokefish]

I am willing to bet you have a Juruense.

Put a pic up and I'll ID for you (along with many of the people above). I have seen and kept Juruense with many different stripe patterns, when about 6 inches the stripe pattern of most is very indistinct and often more wavy than striped.

[Suckermouth]

I agree, I think the owner is thinking "False Tigrinus", which would make it probably

Brachyplatystoma juruense

. Depending on the age of the catfish, the whip-like extension is lost or reduced in adults, so you may be seeing larger fishes (or fishes with damaged extensions) in the pictures you have been looking at. Again, as mentioned, these fish can be somewhat variable in coloration.

[Industrial]

If this is smth unique, which it may be, a photo would be of tremendous help and interest to all parties involved, I am sure... Which shop are you talking about?

It's Rainbow Tropical Fish in Niagara Falls. I haven't seen this one at the fish place. At first when I saw it, I thought it was some bizarre illness.

I agree, I think the owner is thinking "False Tigrinus", which would make it probably

Brachyplatystoma juruense

. Depending on the age of the catfish, the whip-like extension is lost or reduced in adults, so you may be seeing larger fishes (or fishes with damaged extensions) in the pictures you have been looking at. Again, as mentioned, these fish can be somewhat variable in coloration.

I am actually pretty sure that this is what it was. I will still try to get a picture tomorrow though. I was thinking this would be a cool catfish to have, but many fish tanks means to room for something at least 2 feet wide.

And the worst part is, that I will be setting up a SA whitewater biotope.

Anyways, thanks for all the help!

[Richard B]

something like this http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1274566203?

[Industrial]

If that one is an unusually ugly looking case, then yes. The one at the store looks much better.

[Richard B]

If that one is an unusually ugly looking case, then yes. The one at the store looks much better.

Ah well beauty is in the eye of the beholder - this one looks small, maybe 3-4" & there is a lot of varience in this species

[Industrial]

I got some pretty crappy pictures of it. He didn't want to look at me today.

[Richard B]

it does look like a juruense

[grokefish]

Probably get burned for this but it would probably not get to 2ft.
Even in their natural habitat don't seem to often exceed 30cm (12ish inches) and under 1/2 kilo.

Definitely Juruense.

They are very much in the habit of 'perching' up high on top of things like that.
Believe it or not that is a pretty good specimen and will come good as he/she gets older.

Another point I have noted is that this fish will prefer to sit on top of rocks and branches and leaves in the day rather than hide in the dark like most catfish.

Having said that about the length he will get, remember there is the potential for this fish to get to 2ft and VERY well built and heavy, unlike the real 'Tigrinum'

Having kept both species I would say that Juruense is the nicer of the two, when they get big they actually like being stroked too, like Red Tail Cats or mine did anyway.

Also they are as stoopid as you can get with fish, one of mine burned a massive hole in his side on a heater, not just the usual heater burn where it gets infected and progressively worse, he did it all in about 2hrs and there was a hole about 1.5" in his side, looked like captain birdseyes finest fish fingers.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Thank you, grokefish. Good info good to know. BTW: is it that they have no "nerve wiring" in that part of their body? I thought all living creatures respond to pain the same, i.e., avoid it at all costs ? I've heard/read raphaels get burned often too - not knowing anything about it, I naively thought that this may be because they have no sensation (or no heat sensation?) in the middle and hind body parts...

[MatsP]

My thoughts on heater burn on fish is that creatures that live in water won't need to feel "burning" - naturally, this just doesn't happen. Sure the water can get warm, but if it's getting REALLY hot very quickly, the fish would die anyways, so no need to spend nerve building on doing that - better to sense if there is food/predators nearby than sensing "hot". Of course, that's just my logical thinking about the subject...

--
Mats

[grokefish]

and that makes perfect sense!
Sounds very likely to me.

[Viktor Jarikov]

It does but e.g., how about fish swimming up and down in the water column in the wild, or hitting warm shallow parts or cold spring-fed parts: do fish care about that? Do the water temps change in the tropical region? I'd imagine that the shallows can get deadly hot while the holes remain safe and cool. You know how in temperate climates, water is way warmer at the surface during warm seasons than at the bottom, where sunshine does not reach much and where the ground is at a constant 45-60 F, ~50-55 F in Rochester, NY. The same about the winter - would a fish rely on the sense of temperature to understand to go to the bottom where the water is at its warmest to save itself or it is merely an instinct?

Any analogs of such behaviors in tropics?