Brachyrhamdia
meesi Sands & Black, 1985
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his
is the first Factsheet of a new year (2006) and it marks a significant
milestone in the history of ScotCat as we are now entering into
the ninth year of bringing the latest information to you on anything
that is remotely connected to the wonderful world of the Catfish.
I go back to the early eighties when I first started to take a
keen interest in Catfish and in these days there was a great interest
here in the U.K. in the first of Dave Sands books "Catfishes
of the World" Vol. 1 which was published in 1983. The third
volume (1984) concentrated on the Auchenipteridae and Pimelodidae
families and it is this edition that took my interest in the then
new finds of the new genes, Brachyrhamdia.
There was a difference of opinion on whether the first species
identified, B. imitator, was indeed a Pimelodella,
Pimelodella imitator. A paper written in 1986 by John
Lundberg and Lucinda McDade on this catfish stated that "Brachyrhamdia
and Pimelodella differ in the former having the posterior
cranial fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the supraoccipital
whereas it closes to two small foramina in the latter". They
do also state that Brachyrhamdia is a deeper bodied fish
than the Pimelodella genus.
The Brachyrhamdia genus was thought to be monotypic
(one species) until 1985 when Barry Black and David Sands identified
two more species in B. marthae and B.meesi.
There are as of date, 4 species of Brachyrhamdia, B.heteropleura,
B.imitator, B.rambarrani and this months subject
Brachyrhamdia meesi. A fifth species, Brachyrhamdia
marthae, has now been renamed Rhamdia marthae
((Sands & Black, 1985). These catfish have now been removed
from their close relatives the Pimelodidae family and are now
placed in a new family, Heptapteridae.l
The Brachyrhamdia species
tend to be "mimics" of Corydoras species
and shoal with them. This is known as Batesian mimicry (Sands
1990) and they share colour patterns and eye masks of very many
Corydoras species. They steal substrate food from the
Corydoras and are protected in the larger shoal from
large predators.
They are like most pims, terrritorial with their own kind, and
as such it is advisable if keeping more than one that it will
need to be over two so that the aggression is spread and diluted
through a small group.
Hiding places such as pipework/rocks/slates is a good idea to
keep them confident in their own surroundings. Water quality
would need to be bright with either internal or external power
filters for water movement and with water hardness as low as
possible.
Deep pim-like body. Three pairs of barbels. Posterior cranial
fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the supraoccipital.
Salmon/pink body colour with three lines from the end of dorsal
insertion to the caudal peduncle. There are two lighter bands
with a darker line in between. Dark band at caudal peduncle. Dark
mask over eyes and top of head starting at the beginning of dorsal
insertion and carrying on down to midway between pectoral and
ventral fins. Dusky tips to adipose fin and dorsal first spine..
Not to be trusted with smaller inmates such as smaller tetras
and fry but will do fine with larger Barbs erc.
May nip Corydoras species when feeding, so you will need
to keep an eye out for this behaviour.
| Sexing |
There are no known external sexual differences.
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| Breeding |
As yet unknown.
Readily accepts all manner of prepared foods. Catfish pellets
and tablets and are particularly fond of frozen bloodworm and
other "wormlike" foods.
| Etymology |
Brachyrhamdia:
Brachy = short; rhamdia = from the vernucular name
'Nhamdiá or 'Jamdiá.
meesi : In honour of Dr.G. Mees
of the Leiden Natural History Museum, Germany.
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| Reference |
Sands, David; Catfishes of
the World Vol.3: Auchenipteridae & Pimelodidae
Sands, David; Practical Fishkeeping, Look-Lively
Lookalikes, p12-15 (no date)
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| Photo
Credits |
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