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Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (1)

Aquarium Care: Not an easy catfish to keep as there have been many unexplained deaths attributed to this species (and other Farlowella) and as such would need dedicated care from an experienced catfish keeper who has worked with this species or its close cousins from the easier kept Sturisoma genera. As this is a very timid species, if housed with other inhabitants you would be better keeping away from boisterous fish such as some of the Barb species (such as tigers) and definitely Cichlids. Better companions would be the unobtrusive Corydoras species and small Characins or Rasboras. Needs a high oxygen content in the aquarium with regular water changes to keep the water in pristine condition. Prefers a dark substrate with a dense vegetation, floating and long leaved plants where they will hang on to. Diet: They are mostly vegetarian with algae being their number one source of food for adults and young fry so the above mentioned foods along with vegetable laden tablets should suffice. Etymology: The genus name Farlowella: –ella (L.), diminutive connoting endearment: in honour of American physician and botanist (specialising in algae) William Gilson Farlow (1844–1919), Harvard University. The specific name schreitmuelleri: in honour of German aquarist Wilhelm Schreitmüller (1870–1945), who provided holotype [name often credited to Ahl 1936, but Arnold made the name available in an aquarium publication before Ahl’s description was published]. Remarks: Farlowella schreitmuelleri is endemic to Brazil and is known from the type locality, Tapajós River basin, Pará state. After the synonymisation of F. latisoma with this species, its distribution was expanded to the Trombetas River, and there is also a record of the species from the Guamá River. Considering the new records and because no threats capable of driving the taxon to extinction have been detected, Farlowella schreitmuelleri was categorised as Least Concern (LC), (IUCN 2022).

Schreitmueller's Twig Catfish

Farlowella latisoma

Loricariidae

South America: Lower Amazon River basin, Brazil. Type locality: Tapajós River basin, Pará state.

18.0cm (7ins)

22-26°c (71-79°f.)

6.0-7.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2003. Loricariidae - Loricariinae (Armored catfishes). p. 330-350. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2024 ).
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). 2022. Farlowella schreitmuelleri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.