Photo: Kacper Aleksander, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Striped Raphael catfish
Platydoras armatulus
24 cm
Adult size
140 L
Minimum volume
3
Minimum group
12 years
Lifespan
Water parameters
Understand these values- Genus
- Platydoras
- Diet
- carnivore and omnivore
- Social life
- small group
In the wild
Overview
This black-and-white striped catfish, also called the “talking catfish”, makes audible creaking sounds by rubbing its pectoral spines. Hardy and tolerant, it is seen as a beginner's fish, but its secretive habits, its adult size (24 cm) and its taste for small fish make it best suited to tanks of large species.
- Scientific name
- Platydoras armatulus (Valenciennes, 1840)
- Classification
- Siluriformes › Doradidae
- IUCN Red List
- Least concern (LC)
Natural habitat
Paraná–Paraguay basin (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay); Seriously Fish gives it a much wider range (Orinoco, Amazonia, the Guianas)
Observations (GBIF) and localities Native countries Rivers and lakes
It lives in slow or still water (tributaries, creeks, marshes), usually sheltering among roots or submerged vegetation.
Behaviour
Completely peaceful, but it eats small fish: keep it with peaceful species too large for it (medium characins, cyprinids, anabantoids, cichlids, non-territorial catfish). It tolerates its own kind, which often share the same shelter by day. An omnivore: sinking tablets and live or frozen prey, given after the lights go out.
Sources:FishBase Seriously Fish GBIF · Base map: Natural Earth