Catfish ID Please

[Melody]

These were sold to me as Glass Cats, but they don't look like my Glass Cats. I was in a Holiday rush when I got them so I dumped them in quarantine and didn't really look at them closely until tonight.

I know very little about Catfish because I don't like them...lol....stop gasping in horror, just the really Catfish looking Catfish. Plecos & Cory's are fine and I got used to the Glass Cats because the kid liked them.

Anyways, I haven't a clue of even where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't know why the water looks yellow, must be the light because I just set up the tank. The lighting sux overall in my q-tanks so I hope you can see enough to make an ID.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/Catfish.jpg

They're somewhere between 4 & 5 inches now. Instinct tells me they move like something that will be big so I'm nervous.

Thanks!

[Melody]

Ah, I see the problem, there's different species under the common name. I hate common names...lol.

[CACAdmin]

OK, so elaborate... what species are they exactly? (& have you figured out which species & how many species are classified as Glass Cats?) I figured, knowing you, you'd have it now thoroughly investigated. ;) It would be a great help to others to know when looking for/purchasing Glass Cats.

[Melody]

I still don't know what exact species they are yet - there is lots of mention of species, but none that fit the description. There's even a pic of one on a site but they mention other species and not these ones. About the only thing I know (based on a website by Joe Blow so who knows?) is that the transparent Glass Cats are Asian and the semi-transparent ones like my new ones are African. So far I have found all of these species names associated with them:

Eutropiellus debauwi
Physailia pellucida
Parailia congica
Eutropiellus buffei
Schilbeidae
Kryptopterus bicirrhis
Eutropiellus vanderweyeri

I looked them all up and none look like these. I think what I really need is a Catfish enthusiast who can narrow things down with some sort of personal knowledge base, of which I have none. :no:

[_Aaron_]

Have you tried a search with "Kryptopterus macrocephalus " aka poor man's glass catfish

[Melody]

It certainly has possibilities. The pic's don't show the same coloring but that means very little. The closest I've found yet anyway, thanks!

[jake007]

entry removed

[_Aaron_]

try Kryptopterus cryptopterus

[_Aaron_]

Also found this link gives a list of possibles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptopterus

[Melody]

The Siluridae/Sheatfish certainly seems to be the right group, but there's not enough of them with pictures to figure out which one (for me anyway). I don't think they're a rarity by any means, so maybe I'll be able to find them on retail lists. The problem with those is they overuse the common names.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[BC_Kron]

In this link they mention the differences between two or three species of glass catfish

Jackie

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Glass.htm

[Melody]

Thank you Ma'am - that's where I got the idea that they're African as they look like the picture there. They don't mention a species name either - what's up with that? I'm going to name them myself soon. Nothing to it really, just make up long words that nobody can pronounce ;) .

[BC_Kron]

I have been to many, many sites in regards to the "glass catfish" as I have a large school of them....they've recently been moved to a 72g, pretty much their own...but somewhere in one of the many searches I read there are up 45 species of glass cats!!!! But limited info other than that...they have been a fav of mine for quite some time, I have been keeping them for a couple of years now. If you have a shy school, I found by adding 2-3 more, younger ones they spread out better. My school consists of 9+, one of which survived a severe death spout in my rainbow/glass cat tank, I've had him for a couple of years now...what I've tried to find out is their average life span? If anyone can find that out or knows please inform me...any info on these amazing fishes would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Jackie

[Melody]

Its funny, I wanted no Catfish other than Cory's and Plecos, but these grew on me quite quickly and they are a great novelty for the tank - a conversation fish, if you will. What I don't like is I've only seen them in chain stores. Granted I don't get around to the stores much so I've probably missed them.

The kid likes them because they come to the front of the tank when I feed them, position themselves in the center top looking towards the back, and dart out after the food, always coming back to the same spot, like a video game :laugh: .

The lifespan is eight years. I have no idea how I know that or where I read it, but it popped out of my brain when I read the question....lol.

[Melody]

Well it was bugging me - I don't like relying on what my brain spits out. I remembered seeing a Lifespan list (http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginnerinfo/a/lifespan.htm) on About.com so I went and found it again. Sure enough, there it was :D . The kid usually asks me that about his fave fish so I looked it up many moons ago.

[CACAdmin]

Could they be Kryptopterus minor?
Some links with info & pics to check(if you haven't done so already):
http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/kryptopterus_minor.htm
http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?article_id=47
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=16

[Melody]

Those look more like my original Glass Cats, but thanks for looking!

I came THIS close to spawning them once, totally accidentally. I wouldn't mind trying that again.