SCOTCAT.COM  

Billy Grant (2) Allan James (1) Danny Blundell (3) Daphne Layley (2)

This fish is probably imported alongside Platydoras armulatus, for if you look into a tank of the latter in any shop you will usually find one or two O. eigenmanni there. They are quite easy to spot with experience, as O. eigenmanni, as the common  name suggests, has a longer nose, plus the scutes that adorn the sides of the body are smaller, and I find that it is usually a bit darker in colouration than P. armulatus. Aquarium Care: This is a very nocturnal catfish, so give it plenty of hiding places such as pipes or rockwork and you will get the added bonus of seeing it on the odd occasion. Diet: Will eat anything hence the body shape it attains. You could also feed tablet food at lights out, just to make sure that it is getting its fair share. If you feed your usual fare to your aquarium inhabitants you will usually find a very large and fat O. eigenmanni the odd times that you do view it. Etymology: The specific name eigenmanni: In honour of German-born American ichthyologist Carl H. Eigenmann (1863–1927), “who recently [1925] placed the classification of the Doradidae on a firm foundation”.

Long-nosed Raphael Catfish

None

Doradidae

South America: Orinoco River basin Venezuela. Type locality: Venezuela, Caño de Quiribana near Caicara.

17.5cm. (7ins)

23-26°C (73-79°F)

6.0-7.0.

DoNascimiento, CD, Herrera-Collazos, E.E., Mojica, J.I., Rodríguez-Olarte, D., Taphorn, D.C. & Usma, S. 2022. Orinocodoras eigenmanni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.
ScotCat Factsheet no. 17. Nov. 1997.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.