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Ian Fuller (2) Frants Lehmann (2 Stamps) Chris Ralph (2) Jean-Francois Helias (6) Reinhold Wawrzynski (3)

Habitat: Occurs in rivers and streams. Found in the basin wide tributary of the lower Mekong. Aquarium Care: Can be kept in a community tank but would watch if housing an adult with smaller Characins or Livebearers as they could be picked of at night when it starts cruising the tank. They can also nip the fins of larger species, so keep well fed with a feeding after lights out to curb this aggression. Diet: Feeds on aquatic insect larvae, including odonatans. Reproduction: Adult females captured in February had well-developed ova. Spawning takes place at the beginning of the rainy season, with the young appearing in fishing nets during August. Not reported in the aquarium but would appear to be a substrate spawner laying its eggs in tangled roots in the wild, I guess the p.H.would need to be on the acid side for any success with this species. There is a fleshy appendage in front of the anal fin that would indicate sexual dimorphism which has been noticed in other Bagrids. Etymology: The genus name Pseudomystus: Greek, pseudes = false + Greek, mystax = whiskered, used by Belon in 1553 to describe all fishes with whiskers. The species name siamensis: from Siam. (Thailand).

Asian Bumblebee Catfish

Leiocassis siamensis, Leiocassis albicolaris, Leiocassis albicollis, Leiocassis bicolor

Bagridae

Asia: Mekong and Chao Phraya River basins and peninsular Thailand. Type locality: Bangpakong River, Siam.

16.0cm (6¼ins)

21-26°C (70-79°F)

6.0-8.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 1998. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org.
Rainboth, W.J. 1996 Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong. FAO Species Identification Field Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome, 265 p.
ScotCat Factsheet: no.24. June 1998.