behaviors or physical forms that make them fascinating aquarium subjects. Most of us have seen the upside-down catfish Synodontis nigriventris in our favorite aquarium shops, but many people don’t know why they exhibit this strange behavior. In the wild, they congregate under large mats of floating plants. It is much more useful for them to swim upside down because for them, the floor is on the ceiling! They can hunt for bugs and other small prey with their mouths close to the plants and see predators approaching from below much better from the inverted position. The frogmouth catfishes, Chaca species, are particularly well adapted for ambush unting. These are flattened fish with enormous mouths and tiny protruding eyes. They bury themselves in the leaves or mud of a slow river and wait for a likely target to swim by. When prey is in range, they explode from their hiding places. The prey vanishes without a trace and the catfish quickly buries itself again to wait for another meal. As you might imagine, some care is needed to select tankmates for this catfish to ensure they don’t become an expensive—if dramatic—dinner. Circular loricaria Planiloricaria cryptodon are also perfectly suited for hiding in the sand. These, however, like fast-moving waters where they await worms, bugs, and other prey to sweep by. Their whiskers form a net that they use to capture fast-moving prey being carried by the current. Kept in a large aquarium with fast water movement and a sandy bottom, these strange fishes are visually and behaviorally compelling as aquarium inhabitants. We are familiar with all varieties of physical adaptations on different animals, and there is no shortage of mimicry of inanimate objects in the catfish world either. Like stick insects, there are many suckermouth cats—Farlowella, Sturisoma, Loricaria, and others—that are virtually indistinguishable from submerged sticks or wood. These catfishes hide, eat, and breed on the submerged wood and are largely invisible unless they move. The chameleon loricaria Pseudohemiodon apithanos, muchlikeitsreptiliannamesake, has the ability to change color based on its urrounding substrate or mood. They live in leaf litter and can change from a white background with a dark stripe running the length of its back to all black when
In order to avoid predators, Amaralia hypsiura curls up into an unappetizing ball.
present an amazing display, especially if
kept in a large planted tank by the dozen.
Its close cousin, the incorrectly
named Debauwi glass catfish—actually,
Pareutropius buffei—has bold stripes down
its body and also looks spectacular in a
For those aquarists who like a lot of
movement in the aquarium, there’s the
very popular angelicus catfish Pimelodus
pictus. These are silver with black spots
and bright white whiskers. To call them
hyper might not be adequate, especially at
feeding times—these rambunctious fish
will dart all over the aquarium when they
smell food and are constantly in motion
the rest of the time.
Finally, there have been some exciting
new imports from Asia of late, including
a small, peaceful catfish, the shadow or
hummingbird catfish Hyalobagrus flavus.
This is another species that will stay up
in the water column as long as there is
plenty of cover.
Of course, the reputation of being
shy and reclusive is somewhat deserved
for many species. However, when a
particularly nice catfish is observed more
rarely, especially at feeding times or even
at night with a flashlight, it’s a surprise
treat for the aquarist.
Honeycomb catfish Centromochlus
perugiae will hide most of the time but
when they can be seen, they are gorgeous.
Their bodies are white with a black lattice
pattern on their backs that is simply
Then there are catfish that are
particularly extraordinary for one
reason or another, mainly for adaptive