Weather Predicting

 The accepted name is “Pangio kuhlii” (Valenciennes, 1846).

Companions

 

Although they cannot be described as a schooling fish, they seem to do better in groups; the larger the better.

Rotala rotundifolia – Rotala okrągłolistna

They are peaceful fish and can be kept with other small peaceful fish.  They are a good inhabitant for a well planted community tank of at least 50 litres (13 US gallons).

This fish is an egg placer.  The female carefully cleans a number of places for the eggs.  These places may be on the sides of the aquarium, or on the leaves of plants etc.

 

When they are ready the breeders assume the “T ? position with the female’s mouth adjacent to the male’s vent.  The female takes the male’s sperm into her mouth ready for fertilization.

 

She lays her eggs into a little basket formed by her pectoral fins and carefully places the fertilized eggs onto the prepared places.

 

The number of eggs laid each time varies between 1 and 10.  The breeders repeat this until the female has laid all her eggs.  This may be up to 300 eggs and the spawning will sometimes take several days.

 

When they are first laid the eggs are nearly clear, but they darken to a golden brown.  If they turn white they are infertile.  Infertile eggs get fungus which can spread to healthy eggs.

 

Generally the eggs are separated from the parents because some people have observed Bronze Catfish eating their own eggs and young.  The eggs hatch in about 5 days.

 

Fertilization

 

The method of fertilization used by many corydoras catfish is in dispute.

The "Phantom Glass Catfish" is often identified as "Kryptopterus bicirrhis", but the ones offered for sale are more likely to be "Kryptopterus minor", a similar but rather smaller species.   Kryptopterus bicirrhis will grow to about 10 inches (25cm) long while Kryptopterus minor only grows to about 3 inches (8cm). The Phantom Glass Catfish is sometimes called the "Glass Catfish", "Ghost Catfish", or the "Asian Catfish." There is a further possible confusion with the African Glass Catfish, Parailia pellucida, sometimes being sold as the "Glass Catfish".

The Phantom Glass Catfish comes from South East Asia including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.  It comes from streams with sluggish currents, often with areas of still water.

Water Conditions

In the wild the water this fish often lives in is cloudy with suspended sediments.  In these conditions this transparent fish is very difficult to see; fish's transparency acts as an excellent camouflage.  This is not a condition normally aimed for in a home aquarium.

In an aquarium they will take neutral water (7).  A temperature of 24 degrees C (75 degrees F) is suitable.  We have no trouble with the moderate hardness of our Adelaide Hills water with this fish.

The tank should be heavily planted.

Food

This fish is a predator.  It will eat other fish up to the size of a newly born Guppy.  More normal foods for it include mosquito larvae and Daphnia.  I find that they will eat a normal, good quality fish flake without any trouble but I have seen reports of them being difficult to feed.

Companions

The Phantom Glass Catfish is much more comfortable in a school of at least 5.

Although the Phantom Glass Catfish is a predator, it is peaceful to other fish as long as is cannot swallow them with its quite small mouth.  They will certainly eat baby fish, but all reasonable sized adult fish, even small Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras and Green Neon Tetras are safe.

Other suitable companions include Diamond Tetras, Splashing Tetras, White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Cherry Barbs, Penguin Tetras, Pristella Tetras, Glowlight Tetras, Red EyeTetras, Silvertip Tetras, Gold Barbs, Rummy Nose Tetras , Scissortail Rasboras, Lemon Tetras, Emperor Tetras, Head and Tail Light Tetras, Glass Bloodfin Tetras, Swordtails, Platies, Mollies, Zebra Danios, Black Widow Tetras, Rosy Barbs, Tiger Barbs, Paraguay Tetras, Buenos Aires Tetras and Colombian Tetras. They are also OK with Siamese Fighting Fish, Guppies and Endlers Guppies.

Breeding

It is claimed that in Asia techniques have been worked out for breeding the Phantom Glass Catfish.  If this is so, I have been unable to find out the method.  Possibly the commercial people who do this prefer not to tell possible competitors about their methods.

There have been rare reports of the breeding of this fish and these suggestions are based on these reports.

Feed well before hand with live food such as mosquito larvae.  Simulate the start of the rainy season by daily partial water changes using soft water.  Lower the water level and lower the temperature by about 2 degrees C (3 degrees F).

The eggs, in the unlikely event that you succeed in getting any, are laid on plants, perhaps a couple of hundred from each female.

The parents should be removed and the fry fed on small live food.

Fish Sauce

The Phantom Glass Catfish is a major ingredient of some of the salty fish sauces used in Asian cooking.

Wild Caught

Unlike the great majority of the fish we sell, at least some of our Phantom Glass Catfish are caught in the wild. This fish is very common in some places and is not threatened.

Pest Fish

Do not release any pet fish into the wild, or keep them where they can escape.

Sources

Scotcat, Red Orbit, Planetcatfish, CentralPets.com and Munga Bay.com

The old idea was that the sperm goes very quickly through the female’s digestive tract and comes out of her vent in exactly the right position to fertilize the eggs.  It has always been recognized that there were problems with this theory.  The sperm would have to pass through much faster than food normally does, and avoid being digested.  Various ways were postulated to explain how this is done.

Catfish are in the fish order Siluriformes.  To put in perspective what an ‘order’ is in the classification of organisms, in mammals, the Bats make up one order, the Rodents another and Primates another.  As you can see, the classification ‘order’ can include a lot of different animals.  For example consider the difference between the primates, including Humans, apes, lemurs and others.  As with the primates, the Catfish of the order Siluriformes are a diverse group of animals.

Catfish range in length from a couple of centimetres to several metres. In aquariums and ponds there are a lot of different catfish kept.  The name “Catfish” comes from the ‘whiskers’ (barbels) that most Catfish have.

Some of the most popular catfish for aquariums are the corydoras catfish such as the Bronze and the Peppered catfish.  There are hundreds of different species of corydoras catfish. These are mostly tropical but some of them have a range extending well out of the tropics and these can tolerate lower temperatures.  As a general rule, the corydoras catfish are intolerant of very high temperatures and high concentrations of salt.

Some catfish like the Bristlenose Catfish are specialized for eating algae.

Although most Catfish are bottom feeders there are some midwater catfish like the Glass Catfish.

Another idea is that the sperm comes out of the gill covers of the female and are directed backwards in the right general direction to fertilize the eggs.  Reading forums, you can see that there are people who adamantly insist that one or other of the theories is correct.  The supporters of both sides are experienced breeders who have carefully observed the spawning of Bronze Catfish.

 

Personally I think the second theory is more likely to be correct.

 

Raising the Fry

 

After hatching the babies will live on their yolk sac for 2 or 3 days.  They will then eat infusoria and fine fry food including Microworms and other very small live food.

 

Spread of the Bronze Catfish

 

The Bronze Catfish has a wide natural distribution, being found in at least 12 different countries and several separate river systems.

 

The Amazon and Orinoco river systems are connected by at least 2 natural connections.  The Casiquiare River is a tributary of one of the major tributaries of the Amazon, but also a distributary of the Orinoco.  There is also another connection further down the river.  These would allow a fish to go from one river system to the other.  Probably more easily from the Orinoco to the Amazon rather than the other way, but either is possible.  Since two known connections between these river systems exist, we can speculate that others have existed at other times in the past.

 

So there is no mystery about why the Bronze Catfish is present in both these major river systems, but it is also present in several unconnected river systems.

 

I would speculate that it is sometimes spread by its eggs.  The eggs of the Bronze Catfish are very sticky and in the wild usually placed on plants.  The eggs are also fairly tough and people will sometimes transfer them to a hatching tank with their finger.  It seems likely that on rare occasions a bird will accidentally pick up these sticky eggs and then happen to fly to an adjacent river system.  This would explain part of the wide distribution of this fish.

Bronze Catfish Fact Sheet

 

Black Kuhli Loach Fact Sheet

Echinodorus amazonicus – Żabienica amazońska

The Black Kuhli Loach, Pangio oblonga, is a close relative of the Kuhi loach, Pangio kuhlii, but is not as popular in aquariums because of its plainer colouring.  The Black Kuhli loach comes from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

 

 

 

Size

 

The maximum length of this fish is about 8 centimetres (3 inches), but because it is a thin eel like shape, this is still a small fish.

 

Water Conditions

 

This is a tropical fish and a temperature of between 23 and 28 degrees C (between 73 and 82 degrees F) is acceptable.  This fish comes from soft acid water and the usually recommended conditions for them in an aquarium are a pH of between 6.2 and 7.2, with soft water.  Although it seems logical to approach the water parameters of its natural habitat, Richard Bias of New Jersey, USA has kept and bred this fish with a pH of 8.0 and relatively hard water with a gH of 18-22 and a kH of about 20.

 

It may be that keeping the water clean and with consistent pH and hardness is more important than the actual values of the parameters.

 

In the wild their habitats often have a sandy bottom.  This is generally recommended for aquariums, but Mr. Bias used small rocks of up to 2.5 cm (1 inch in diameter).  I have also had success with keeping this species using a substrate of small pebbles.

 

Plants

 

Tylomelania towutensis
In the wild they are used to plants and an aquarium should have plenty of live plants.

 

Food

 

Black Kuhli Loaches are omnivores, but their diet requires a reasonable amount of animal based food.  My Kuhlis seem to particularly like frozen blood worms (so do many fish).  I also give them frozen brine shrimp once a week.  They will also eat normal fish foods like flakes.

 

They are bottom feeders and only eat what falls to the bottom.

 

Nocturnal

 

Tylomelania species orange poso.
Black Kuhlis are partially nocturnal.  Combined with this they will burrow into the substrate and are good at hiding in the plants, so you may not see them much.  They are difficult to catch.

The Kuhli Loach, Pangio kuhlii, is a small eel like fish.  It comes from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.  Other names include Coolie Loach, which is a clear miss-spelling of Kuhli; both these words are pronounced in the same way.  It is also called “Prickle Eye” because it has a prickle near its eye. This prickle probably gives this fish some protection from predators.

 

 

 

Length and Longevity

 

The Kuhli loach will supposedly grow up to 12 centimetres (4 and a half inches) long, but I have never seen one this big.  Most of the ones available are much smaller than this.  One of the reasons for this variation is that there are several subspecies of Pangio kuhlii, and the size they grow to varies a lot.

 

They have been reported as living up to 10 years.

 

Water Conditions

 

The Kuhli Loach is an equatorial fish; the main areas it is from are a little to the south of the Equator.  It needs warm water, and a temperature of between 24 and 30 degrees C (between 75 and 86 degrees F) is suitable.  They can survive a slightly higher or lower temperature than this range, but I do not recommend it.

 

In the wild this fish is mainly found in slowly flowing streams with a sandy bottom with a layer of organic matter from the surrounding forests in many places on the stream bed.  The water in these streams tends to have a fairly low mineral content and to be soft and acidic.  There are plants growing in sections of these streams.

Tylomelania patriarchalis

In an aquarium they will adapt to a moderate hardness and can certainly take a hardness of up to 10 dH.  A pH of up to 7.5 is generally tolerated.  The water needs to be reasonably clean in the sense of not having a large build up of fish wastes.

 

Substrate

 

In an aquarium you should avoid any sharp substrates and fine river sand is the normal choice.  I have also had success with using large (6mm or more) rounded pebbles.

 

These fish not only search the surface of the sand for food, they will go right into it.  I have seen them dive straight into the sand to avoid being caught.  With larger pebbles they will go between the pebbles looking for food.

 

Plants

 

These fish seem to like densely planted aquariums.  Including some floating plants is also a good idea.

 

Food

 

Kuhli loaches are omnivores with a requirement for some animal based food.  They will certainly eat flakes and pellets.  One of their favourite foods is frozen bloodworms.  They also like frozen brine shrimp.

Neritina natalensis – Nerite Zebra

This is a bottom feeding fish, so it is necessary for some of the food to reach the bottom.

Catching

The Kuhli Loach has the distinction of being the most difficult fish to catch in a planted aquarium.  It is closely followed in this by the Black Kuhli Loach.

 

Companions

 

Although the Kuhli loach in not a schooling fish in the normal sense, they seem to need company.  A single Kuhli may be able to, live all right in a tank, but will tend to be hidden nearly all the time during the day.  A group of perhaps eight of these interesting fish will behave quite differently and are much more likely to come out and show themselves during the day.

 

This is a small peaceful fish, and is a suitable inhabitant for a community aquarium of small peaceful fish.

 

Sexing

 

Most of the time there is not a big difference in appearance between the sexes, but the male is more muscular in the front part of his body.  The male also have larger pectoral fins with more black on them than the females.

Faunus ater – Black Devil

When they are ready to breed the gender becomes more obvious with their lower body becoming distinctly fatter with greenish coloured eggs visible.

 

These fish probably reach sexual maturity at about 2 years old.

 

Breeding in the Wild

 

The wild Kuhli Loaches usually breed in December and January.  In the areas they come from, the wettest three months are December, January and February, so they breed in the early part of the wet season when the water level is rising.  They apparently breed in very shallow water, in areas which are dry part of the year.  Some of the breeding areas would not even be part of the stream bed, but would be normally a forest area. Neritina pulligera – Military Helmet These flooded forests would have a large amount of food both for the adults and for their babies.  The breeding appears to be communal with a group of Kuhlis taking part rather than just one pair.

 

This fish is not threatened in the wild so they must be breeding successfully.

 

Breeding in Aquariums

 

 

 

There are many reports of this fish breeding in aquariums, but nearly all of these are of accidents rather than planned breeding.  Most of these reports involve community aquariums.

 

 

 

Although I have yet to see a well documented account of this fish breeding when this was planned, there are a number of bits of information which can be pieced together.

 

 

This fish will react when it is about to rain.  It is in the same family as the famous weather loach whose rain predicting abilities appears to rival the most advanced meteorological techniques.  Both the weather Loach and the Kuhli loach will swim wildly as if they are ready to spawn when rain is coming.  It is generally believed that they are reacting to a change in air pressure.  Of course we should remember that our Kuhli Loaches are kept inside in an aquarium heated to a constant temperature, and that the pressure they are subjected to includes the pressure caused by the depth of the water in the aquarium.  This depth may vary from time to time.

 

I wonder if we are underestimating these fish.  The change in air pressure is not the only thing that happens before rain.  The rain in the areas they come from will be largely accompanied by electrical storms and the atmosphere before thunder storms has a different proportion of negative to positive ions from normal.  Humans can feel the effects of this.  Possibly this is also used by fish in predicting weather.