Plectrochilus Erythrurus

[Pufferpack]

Anyone with any info on Plectrochilus Erythrurus I would really appreciate it. I bought these guys under the name "Blue Loach Cat", from what I've been able to find so far they are a parasite catfish from South America, they are a relative of the Candiru and may be called "False Candiru"

The only close photo I have been able to find was from a German
adventurists journal, and I can't even find that anymore . If it hadn't been for Graeme pointing me in the right direction from the pics I posted I wouldn't even know this much...thanks again Graeme.

Any info would be a great help.

Thanks
Don

 

[CFC]

Can find no info on your particualar beasties but i know a little about parasitic catfish,they should not be housed with fish of the same size or larger because their prefered way of feeding it to attach them selves to the gill rakers of other fish and live on their blood this weekens the host and leaves it open to infections which eventualy kill it They will in the event of there being no host fish available take small live foods and crushed flake.

 

[Pufferpack]

I finally found some good info from a knowledgeable fellow on Planet Catfish...unfortunately the cats are Vampires and had to be returned to the lfs...good thing I got that info last night as I got home to find my new tank broken and 35 gals of water on the floor. If I hadn't recieved the following info I probably would have popped them into the Cichlid tank until could rehouse them, which would have resulted in one dead Pufferpack (my tankmate would have killed me after these boys sucked her fish dry)

Silurus
Forum Moderator:
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA / Singapore

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Plectrochilus erythrurus is a junior synonym of Vandelia cirrhosa.. These are hematophagous (i.e. they feed on blood), and you would need a constant supply of live fishes for them to feed on. They stick their heads inside the gill covers of the host fish, bite off a chunk from the gills, and proceed to feed on the blood that oozes out. Once they are fully engorged, they will drop off the host fish.
They don't swim very much (and spend a lot of time lying on the bottom) and only do so when they are hungry and looking for a host.
Depending on how many you have, it's a good bet that the host fish will die and you will need constant replenishment.
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Pufferpack
Forum follower

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 11:03 am Post subject:


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IYO would these boys be able to survive on bloodworms and beefheart. The lfs that I got them from had them for at least 3 weeks (I had them on hold for that long until my tank was ready for them) in a tank with baby bumblebee gobies. I don't think they were munching on the Gobies (I could be wrong as I forgot to ask what hey had been fed...duh) so I'm hoping I will be able to feed them at home. If not they will have to be returned.
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Silurus
Forum Moderator
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA / Singapore

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Nope, they have a strict diet of blood. You might be able to get young fish to eat bloodworms, but the adults will only feed on blood. They are able to survive for fairly long periods between feedings (which explains why they're still alive).
They are not feeding on the bumblebee gobies because they are too small. If you put a large fish (like a carp) in there, they'd be making straight for the gills.
A very interesting catfish, but one that is very troublesome (and expensive) to feed. A pity...
I also think that it's not very responsible of your LFS to sell fish like that without informing owners of its potential hazards (think of the damage it'll wreak on a c*****d tank).

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Pufferpack
Forum follower

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 11:21 am Post subject:


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The lfs couldn't even identify these fish, I will be returning them in the next couple of days as it doesn't look like I could keep them alive let alone care for them properly.

Good thing I set them up in their own tank, if I would have dropped them in the wifes C*****d tank I'd be a dead man now

Thanks for the info.

Don
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Silurus
Forum Moderator
Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA / Singapore

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 11:30 am Post subject:


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BTW, care to contribute your pics to the Cat-eLog? There doesn't seem to be any of Vandellia at the moment.


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Pufferpack
Forum follower

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 1:27 pm Post subject:

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You are more than welcome to them, even though they are not too good. I will e-mail all the pics I have to the site later today or tomorrow. Right now I have a mess to clean up, I just got home from work to find the new tank split down the side and 30gals of water on the floor. Doesn't look like I'll be getting any better pics now. The cats survived, but are in a bucket waiting for the lfs to open.

 

[reg2k2]

How big were they? The one I had heard of before is apparently very small (inch, I think?), and has been known to follow a stream of urine, well...right on in! Glad they're goin' back.

And very sorry to hear about ur disaster!

 

[Pufferpack]

The dreaded "Pee Fish" of the amazon (Candiru) is of the same family and only gets about 1 inch max.(those things used to give me nightmares after reading stories about them as a kid ) mine were a larger species (about 4 or 5 inches long...the size of a pencil). Very nice looking fish and interresting, but I couldn't see keeping a big Carp or Koi for them to feed off of, and anything smaller would not survive the first night.

As far as my tank rupture it could have been much worse, luckily all our tanks are in the basement, so other than the loss of the tank itself the only damage is some wet carpets, which are drying out as we speak, the clean up went pretty well (thank you Shopvac) and I should be able to start setting up a new tank in a couple days....maybe a 50 gal...hehehehe