stone catfish

[lilmolly]

I have 1 stone catfish in a 2.5gal with a betta and some molly fry. The tempature is on 80f because my betta was half eaten by my crayfish (I put him in with my blue gourami and I forgot I had a crayfish in there as well ) Anyway, he's doing well. He grew all the body that was missing back and starting to regrow the tail. There is aquarium salt in there as well. The molly fry are in there because all the rest of my tanks have either midas's, green terrors, convicts, kissing gouramis and the crayfish. Plus those tanks are so big they would get lost. I have the stone catfish in there for the same reason. Right now he is about .5 of an inch long. I give the fry crushed tropical flakes 5 times a day, the betta gets betta food once a day, and the stone cat fish eats what ever is left from the other fishes food plus I throw in a tiny bit of algae wafer. I heard that stone catfish are pretty hardy and they eaten flake food, frozen food, and the wafers. I also read that they get to be 6 inches long, is that true? If it is then I'll get another tank for him. I really like him and want to get another but I won't do that till I can get something else up for the fry. Is there anything else I should know about these guys?

 

[CFC]

Im not familiar with the name stone catfish, can you give the scientific name or a picture for your fish?

 

[Perky]

Is it the one on Planet Catfish called a Stonecat?

 

[lilmolly]

yes, from the rsearch I've been doing it's called a hara bara.

 

[ryan]

I have never seen any flavus species in the U.K. for sale in the retail shops.

The main talking point of flavus and other madtoms is the venom contained in the dorsal and pectoral spines of this genus which can give a very nasty sting, it is a venomous toxin that forms part of the mucus coating on these spines. In some cases this can last a few hours with swelling of the infected area. This of course is a deterrent to large predators to keep well away and is an excellent defence mechanism.

The keeping of N. flavus. This is one of the bigger madtoms growing to a foot in length in the wild, (smaller in the aquarium) compared to most of the other species which grow to between 4 and 5 inches. Not having kept this species myself the data that I have collated points to a large tank ( 4' 0") with a gravel bottom with no heater of course with an external filter and good water movement. They are very nocturnal so plenty of hiding places, large rocks or slate would suffice, they would then venture out at night for feeding, and would be able to be seen with the tank lights off and with one small light on in the tank room.

This madtom and others in the same genus have been an ambition to a lot of U.K. catfish keepers to own but with a few of them being in the endangered list in their own habitat, and with the U.S. Government and our own Government restrictions, it looks like they will just have the pictures to drool over.

There is now moves a foot by the Government ( U.K.) through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAAF) to impose restrictions on some coldwater species like the above mentioned 'Stonecat', due to the dangers of introduction to native waters and the threat to its occupants through disease and predation. In other words you could be paying up to £30 for a license to keep them. In the future due to the exporters having to implement new guidelines on matters such as health records for each fish, they could become quite rare in the U.K.

I am not 100% sure but I believe this fish can now be obtained through I free license, however, this still takes serveral months to process.

The majority of this info came from a friend I have and myself and research

Good Luck

 

[CFC]

yes, from the rsearch I've been doing it's called a hara bara.

The Hara hara is a lovely little catfish from India, often given the common name of moth catfish. They are shy and nocturnal and should be kept in a small group, although they do not actively school they feel more secure this way and you will see more of them. They should be fed on mainly small live and frozen foods but they will learn to take small catfish pllets after time. this fish can tolerate temperatures down to 12 oC so can be kept in unheated indoor tanks.