Tropical Fish Hobbyist - October 2010

Irecently asked my six-year-old aughter to design some aquarium fishes for me, and she came up with some great ideas: “Daddy, first I’ll draw one with yellow polka dots and then one with blue stripes. Here’s a really cute one, too, like a panda bear, and a scary one that looks likes a crocodile. This one is invisible; you can see right hrough it. And here’s a really, really big one even bigger than you!” Not only was I able to find pictures of fishes that looked like all of her ideas, they were all catfishes!

Catfish Diversity

There are almost 3000 catfish species described in about three dozen families. New species are being discovered and described regularly. For a time, so many catfishes were being discovered that the scientists couldn’t keep up with their descriptions; aquarists got the idea of assigning numbers to new specimens until a scientific name could be published for them. You’ll see references to L-numbers especially, short for Loricariidae, to describe suckermouth catfishes waiting for a name. Less frequently, one might encounter C-numbers for Corydoradinae catfishes.

With so many fishes to choose from, there is truly a catfish for every freshwater aquarium—and even for some brackish or marine setups! While many of them are brown, gray, or black and spend most of their time hiding, there are plenty of examples of brightly colored, active, or otherwise remarkable catfishes that make great aquarium inhabitants. Here’s a quick survey of a few species of these amazing fishes to pique your interest.

Ed Taylor

One pleco renowned for its beauty is Hypancistrus zebra.

Beautiful Catfishes

There are some real gems in the wide world of catfishes. They’re brightly colored and patterned and feature unique behaviors to go with the good looks. The most famous of the colorful catfishes mostly come from the family Loricariidae, the suckermouth catfishes. Perhaps the most famous of these, both for its striking beauty and equally striking price tag, is the zebra pleco Hypancistrus zebra. These have regular black stripes with an almost glowing blue-white coloration between them.

Fortunately they aren’t the only
pretty Hypancistrus. All of the known
Hypancistrus species have bold dark and
light patterns of stripes, striations, or
spots. The queen arabesque pleco H. sp.
L-260 is another particular standout with
a dark body having fine white striations
throughout and a cost of only a fraction of
the zebra pleco’s.