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Acanthodoras cataphractus (Linnaeus, 1758)

 

Image contributors to this species:

Danny Blundell (1) Chris Ralph (4) Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (1) Allan James (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Factsheet  Article  Etymology = Genus  Etymology = Species

Other Sources:

Search  Fishbase  Wikipedia  Catalog of Fishes  Global Biodiversity Information Facility  FishNet2  iNaturalist

Relevant Information:

Description: Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 5 - 5; Anal soft rays: 10 - 11. The body is a little elongated, without scales, with one lateral range of bony plaque. The head is large and flattened. Mouth terminal, and has three pairs of barbels. Eyes are small. Abundant in calm waters of swamps and mangroves. Active at night, lies hidden in the underwater roots and stocks during the day. Every basic unit of the sound they emit when they move their pectoral spine lasts 100-200 milliseconds with a frequency of 170-250 Hertz. Aquarium Care: Wherever possible it is recommend that the aquarist keep these catfish in small groups of four to six specimens, assuming that they are available in these numbers; failing this Acanthodoras cataphractus are quite happy to shoal with other members of the family Doradidae. In their natural habitat they would be found in very large shoals. They are ideally suited to being kept in a community aquarium environment with other medium to large species of fish such as Bleeding Heart Tetras, Emperor Tetras and other catfish. The main thing to remember is that these catfish have quite a large mouth and are capable of eating any fish small enough to fit inside. Diet: Omnivorous, feeds mainly on organic wastes. Searches for food by digging in the sediment. In the aquarium as with all the other doradids, Acanthodoras cataphractus is omnivorous and readily accepts a mixed and varied diet which they search through the substrate for. Sinking catfish pellets, good quality flake foods, granular foods, cultured whiteworm, earthworms, aquatic snails which they relish and frozen foods such as bloodworm.

Common Name:

Spiny catfish

Synonyms:

Silurus cataphractus, Cataphractus americanus, Doras blochii, D.brunnescens,  D.castaneoventris,  Callichthys asper

Family:

Doradidae

Distribution:

South America: Amazon River basin and coastal drainages of French Guiana,  Guyana and  Surinam.

Size:

15.0cm. (6ins)

Temp:

22-26°C (71-79°F)

p.H.

6.0-7.5.

Reference:

Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2009. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (02/2010).
ScotCat Factsheet: no. 140. Feb. 2008.



Back to Family page

Family: Doradidae  Back to Ident-A-Cat  Click on Thumbnails

Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Close-up of head
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus
Click for full imageAcanthodoras cataphractus

 

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