Aquarium catfish: photo with names and descriptions

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Among the most popular inhabitants of home aquariums are various catfish, which are surprisingly beautiful and often unpretentious in care. A huge number of species gives you the opportunity to choose, so everyone can choose the fish that they really like. We offer you to get acquainted with photos and descriptions of aquarium catfish, learn some useful secrets of these wonderful fish.

General characteristics

In nature, there are several thousand species of catfish, some of which are suitable sizes for keeping at home. Very often, aquarium catfish act as cleaners, eating the remnants of food that have settled on the bottom. This is very convenient for the owner, because it allows you to clean the "reservoir" much less frequently. However, it is important to remember that when cleaning the bottom, catfish greatly muddy the water.

The distinguishing features of such fish include:

• Lack of scales, their body is coveredlamellar layer of bone tissue.
• Most often painted in such a way that they become difficult to see at the bottom.
• Very active at night, during the day they prefer to stay at the bottom, hiding behind snags or stones.
• Grow to impressive sizes quite often.
• Have a modest color - gray, black, greenish-brown, beige, which helps them become almost invisible at the bottom, but some species look very elegant.
• The organs of touch are whiskers, of which catfish have several pairs.
• If they are predators, they pose a real threat to other inhabitants of the aquarium, especially neon and guppies.

Most varieties of aquarium catfish are quite unpretentious in care, but prefer the neutral acidity of water and its saturation with oxygen. Next, let's get acquainted with the most popular options.

Ancistrus

These beautiful fish are often referred to as sticky fish due to the fact that special suction cups are placed on their lips, allowing them to cling to snags. They are the most common inhabitants of home aquariums. Ancistrus have a very characteristic appearance: a large head with powerful jaws, a flattened body with a flat belly.

The fins of catfish are beautiful and strong, but due to the specifics of the swim bladder, they move in jumps unusual for fish. The eyes are small and round. Allocate stellate, black, veil ancistrus.

Generally unpretentious, but for those who are interested in purchasing such aquariumcatfish, you need to prepare the following conditions for them:

• Pure water at 20-25°C.
• The presence of snags or decor where the fish can hide.
• Live plants.

Average life expectancy is 5-6 years.

Striped Platidoras

This beautiful fish has been known since the time of the famous taxonomist Carl Linnaeus, found naturally in the Amazon, Orinoco. For domestic catfish, the following features of appearance are characteristic:

• Body measurements - up to 15-19 cm.
• Round belly.
• Well developed pectoral fins.
• Three pairs of antennae.

Male and female can be distinguished by size: the former are more slender and small. Regardless of gender, the fish look very stylish - yellow stripes on a dark brown background, while the older the catfish, the more faded the colors of its body become.

When organizing care, it is important to properly feed the pets, if they suffer from hunger, they will switch to small inhabitants of the aquarium. In general, they are unpretentious in food, they eat molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic insects, earthworms, tubules with pleasure, but it is important to build the menu in such a way that it includes protein-rich foods and a vegetable component (at least 1/3 of the diet).

Striped platidoras are real centenarians among aquarium catfish, with normal care they can live up to 15 years.

Glass

It is not difficult to recognize an aquarium catfish with the name "glass", all of itthe body is really transparent, like glass, so through this beautiful fish you can easily see the outlines of the walls of the aquarium. The body is slightly elongated and laterally compressed, the color of the body may change slightly under different lighting conditions, becoming blue. It is recommended to keep such catfish in flocks of at least 6 individuals, otherwise they become shy and begin to lose their appetite. Also, glass catfish need a lot of live plants for comfort, as these fish prefer to swim among the thickets in the middle layers of the water.

Due to the transparent body, you can see how the swim bladder and fish skeleton look like, but the rest of the organs are concentrated in the opaque front of the body and are not visible.

Mottled

The speckled aquarium catfish is one of the most common inhabitants of domestic water bodies, the average size of a dense stocky body is from 4 to 8 cm, while females are slightly larger than males. The shape of the body allows the fish to lead a bottom lifestyle: an almost flat belly and a strongly concave back. The male and female can be distinguished not only by size, but also by the dorsal fin: in the former it is straight, in the latter it is slightly rounded.

The color is very elegant - gray-brown body with a yellow tint, pink-yellow belly. It belongs to social fish, it can be sad when alone, so it is best to start several individuals at once. He loves clean water, at least once a week should be 1/3 of the liquid from the aquarium to renew.

With proper care and nutrition, it will delight its owners for 7-8 years.

Panda

Let's continue the description of aquarium catfish and get acquainted with an unusual creation of nature, the panda, so named because of its characteristic color. The average body length is 5 cm, females are larger, they have a rounded dorsal fin, in males it is slightly pointed.

To keep these unusual pets, you need to purchase an aquarium with a capacity of at least 30 liters, in which live plants will definitely grow. Catfish prefer a nocturnal lifestyle, but if the lighting is dimmed, they will be happy to be active during the day. These species of fish do not serve as orderlies, rather, they are the decoration of the aquarium.

Sackgill catfish

This representative of aquarium catfish looks unusual, its body resembles an eel with its outlines, flattened on the sides, the muzzle is flat, it has 4 pairs of hard whiskers. While swimming, the catfish, like an eel, wriggles its whole body. It can grow up to 40 cm in length if you pick up an impressive aquarium. Rarely starts at home due to the difficulty of keeping and inconspicuous color (gray or brown). It is a predator, so the owners need to make sure that the fish have the opportunity to hunt live fry. With good care, it can live up to 20 years.

Otocinclus

Let's continue our acquaintance with photos and names of aquarium catfish. For those who are unable toput a large aquarium, the ideal option would be otocinclus, a small fish no more than 5.5 cm in length. However, these creatures prefer to live in small flocks. The body is elongated, the abdomen is light, the back, on the contrary, has a dark color, the fins are transparent. Like all representatives of sticky, otocinclus has a mouth with a suction cup.

Has a good-natured, calm disposition. For successful keeping, it is necessary to provide the fish with clean water and a large number of aquatic plants.

Tarakatum

The photo of the aquarium catfish shows that the tarakatum is a very beautiful fish, but it has an impressive size - about 15 cm. You can recognize this aquatic inhabitant by its long antennae, elongated body, and strong fins. The color is quite diverse:

• Black with light streaks all over the body.
• Spotted "leopard" - dark spots are scattered over a light pink or greenish body.
• The striped makes the catfish look like a formidable land predator - a tiger.

In addition, the restless character distinguishes the fish - all day long the restless tarakatum swarms at the bottom of the aquarium, as well as unpretentiousness. For maintenance, you will need a large aquarium - at least 100 liters, as well as fine rocky or sandy soil. Interestingly, these aquatic inhabitants have an amazing ability - they can jump, so the aquarium must be kept closed.

Shark catfish

It looks very much like a toothypredator, has the same elongated, like a torpedo, body of gray color. At home, it can grow up to 30 cm, eats both plant and animal food, eats 2-3 times a day in medium-sized portions, food residues must be removed in a timely manner.

Like the previously discussed tarakatum, it is able to jump out of the aquarium, so the container must be closed with a lid. It has a cowardly disposition, so the owner needs to furnish the bottom so that the mini-shark has somewhere to hide. A large number of smooth stones, fancy snags, dense thickets will do. You can also buy beautiful stylized decorations in specialized stores, such as a sunken pirate frigate, but the dimensions of the product must be large enough, otherwise the fish will get stuck.

Changeling

Let's continue to look at photos of aquarium catfish with names and descriptions. The representative of the fringed mustache, the changeling, is very interesting for the owners of domestic reservoirs. Its body has a triangular section, and the dorsal and pectoral fins are decorated with spines. Two of the three pairs of whiskers seem to be fringed, which makes the fish look very elegant.

Deserved its name because of the peculiarities of nutrition: in order to capture an insect that has fallen into the water with its mouth, the catfish has to turn upside down. Owners of these fish should feed them in a balanced way, preferably with live food, but remember not to overfeed, aquatic life tends to become obese.

Specificityfeeding catfish

We examined various types of aquarium catfish with photos, now we will briefly get acquainted with what needs to be used as food for such unusual pets. These large beautiful fish are omnivores, so feeding them will not be difficult. The "meals" include:

• Live algae growing in an aquarium.
• Various invertebrates.
• Food for bottom fish.
• Sometimes small pieces of vegetables, especially zucchini and cucumbers, are fed to catfish, and it is very important to immediately remove the remnants of uneaten food, preventing it from settling on the bottom and rotting.

Owners should feed their pets well, otherwise they may start to get their own food by eating other inhabitants of the home pond.

Types of aquarium catfish are diverse, we have considered some of them. For the aquarium owner, it is important to understand that catfish are large enough fish, so they need an appropriate aquarium with clean water, in addition, they do not like loneliness, so they feel most comfortable in small flocks.