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ur factsheet for the month of May 2012 centres on a species from the family Doradidae which is beginning to make its way back into the hobby in the U.K. after a few missing years. In the 1980s and 90s this species was known as Opsodoras leporhinus but now it is treated as a synonym on the differences on the make-up of the maxillary barbels and the groove in the fontanel not being continuous. Since August 2015. Nemadoras leporhinus is now Tenellus leporhinus.

Tenellus leporhinus

This dorad is best kept in groups as they will not do well singularly. Avoid boisterous or aggressive tank mates as this is a shy species that will hide out during the day and appear for food at night under darkness. Provide a dimly lit tank with floating plants. This is not an easy species to keep so you would need to keep up water changes and good aquarium husbandry as they can be prone to whitespot infections.

T. leporhinus at the top and a Hemidoras sp. below (probably stenopeltis)

Nemadoras and Hemidoras species are quite alike but the main differences are that Nemadoras has a shorter snout and smaller bony scutes.

There are at the moment five described species of Nemadoras, our factsheet of the month plus N. elongatus (Boulenger, 1898), N. hemipeltis (Eigenmann, 1925), N. humeralis (Kner, 1855), and N. trimaculatus (Boulenger, 1898) all ranging from 10 to 14cm SL.

Update: August 2015. Nemadoras leporhinus is now Tenellus leporhinus due to the paper by Birindelli (2014). The new genus also includes, Nemadoras trimaculatus, N. leporhinus, N. ternetzi and the new species N. christinae all of course now in the Tenellus genera.

Mouse catfish

Hemidoras leporhinus, Opsodoras leporhinus, Nemadoras leporhinus

Doradinae

South America: Orinoco, Branco and Essequibo River basin.

10.0cm. (4ins)

22-25°C (72-77°F)

Feathered maxillary barbels. Very large eyes.

A peaceful species that would be better kept with non aggresive tankmates such as Characins, livebearers, Corydoras and smaller members of the Loricariidae family such as the various Hemiloricaria and Rineloricaria species.

Tubifex, Daphnia, Cyclops. Once settled in they will take frozen foods, flake and tablet foods.

Tenellus: From the Latin tener, meaning delicate, in reference to the delicate appearance of those dorads.

Photo Credits

© Johnny Jensen @