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I got what Petsmart calls a "bumblebee catfish" tonight. It's a really cute and active fish, and if I remember ages ago correctly, I've had this fish before.

But I can't really find any information on it! I looked on here, and on planet catfish, and nothing's coming up, at least nothing with pics that looks like what I've got (I'll try to get decent pics tomorrow when he's climatized and not zip-zip all over the tank).

Anybody have any info? The little sign said max growth is 5-6", but you KNOW how informative Petsmart is. They consider Clown Knives "semi-aggressive". And I think any fish that eats "anything it can catch" is not exactly -semi- aggressive.

Listen! Do you smell that?

Yeah I got quite a bit of info, but the behaviour varies with the species etc, so post the piccy, we'll ID it for sure and do the rundown then.

This may be a hard picture to post. Since I couldn't get a good pic of him last night, so I dug out batteries for the digital camera this morning (I figure since it eats batteries for breakfast, I'd at least do it at the right time ) to get some good pictures...

*removed all griping about not finding the fish*

I found him! The BB cat is alive and well, just an extremely good player of hide and seek. I don't know where he was hiding this morning, but right now he's hiding between and under two rocks, one of which is kinda colored like he is.

If I can tempt him out later I'll get some pics and post them. I've got one of him hiding with just his little nose poking out but you can't see him too well. Plus I really need to clean the front glass.

Listen! Do you smell that?

lol, thats a relief, be a bit harsh to lose him in like 24 hours! Tbh though, thats catfish for you, I honestly cant remember how many banjo catfish I have, maybe six ....or eight.

It wasn't even 24 hours. It was less than 12! I don't get the hiding of him, though, especially as active as he was last night. Now I can't get a decent picture of him because he just won't come out.

Listen! Do you smell that?

haha, mine do that too, its amazing how 50 fish can disappear in a 120gal when they see that camera.

Right, Bumblebee Catfishes.

This is a potential source of MUCH confusion. The reason being that there exists more than one "Bumblebee Catfish".

The smallest is Microglanis iheringi, a member of the Family Pseudopimelodidae from South America. This fish usually attains a maximum SL of 2 inches. Therefore this fish, if this is the one you have, is likely to be reasonably compatible with a good range of "community" fishes (as in the standard choices of fish species for general mixed aquaria) It might be a good idea to keep even this fish away from temptation with respect to particularly tiny species, so I'd avoid Neons, Ember Tetras and similarly tiny fishes just in case. Anything the size of a Lemon Tetra or upwards, on the other hand, will be just fine.

The other "Bumblebee Catfishes" are Asian in origin. Pseudomystus siamensis is the usual species found in the trade, as this one possesses the most distinctive striped pattern leading to the name. There are other Pseudomystus species bearing an analogous (though less well defined) pattern, but Psuedomystus siamensis (which used to be called Leiocassis siamensis) is the most likely of the Asian fishes to be found at a dealer's is probably the most frequently imported, and is among the best known.

Your BIG problem, if you have Psuedomystus siamensis, is that this is a predatory catfish reaching nearly 6 inches in length. I've seen a 3-4 inch specimen at my LFS which was temporarily housed in a tank containing some Zebra Danios. Which it proceeded to chase all over the tank in an attempt to eat them. When I pointed this out to my LFS, it was very swiftly rehoused into a tank full of Cichlids.

Psudomystus siamensis is a member of the Family Bagridae, a Family that has members in Asia, with a handful of African members of the Family. These fishes tend to be fairly chunky, muscular fishes, most of them are avowedly predatory, and rapidly take advantage of any temptation you place in their path with respect to smaller fishes that can fit into their capacious mouths. They are in effect the Asian version of the Pimelodidae, and the similarity is such that determining the Family status of an unknown catfish falling into the general category of "Looks like a Pim, could be a Bagrid" requires recourse to dissection. They possess not only very similar anatomy, but similar habits - namely wolfing down anything small enough to fit into their mouths.

It is a matter of some urgency that you determine which of the possibilities applies to your "Bumblebee Catfish", because if you have the Asian species, and it's sharing it's quarters with small fishes, those small fishes are doomed.

For comparison purposes, here are the two principal "Bumblebee Catfishes":

[1] Pseudomystus siamensis from Asia

[2] Microglanis iheringi from South America

Of the two, Pseudomystus siamensis is most likely to want to hide during the day, but a specimen that has been domesticated in the aquarium will come out quite boldly at daytime and, if it sees small fishes it thinks it can eat, will provide you quite happily with a display of predatory behaviour that, while interesting to watch, is also expensive to maintain.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

yes petsmart sells south american, it is on a green card that says semi-aggressive.

when in there tanks, you will notice that they hide all of the time. They are good small catfish but has a tendency to hide alot. Just dont keep them with smaller fishes. and give them structure to hide by.

I went back into Petsmart yesterday to look at the card in more detail, and it does specify South American Bumblebee. But contrary to what bettachris says, the card at the petsmart I got mine at says Tropical Community. It specified a maximum size of 5", obviously that's an extreme maximum.

And looking at the links Cali provided, it's definitely the South American. The Asian variety is yellow and black, while the South American species is red and brown which is what mine is.

The smallest tankmates he has are my zebra danios, which he was chasing around the tank the first night he was in there, but even the smalles golden zebra (about 1/4" long) held his own with the bb cat, so I guess they're ok together. At least for now.

Listen! Do you smell that?

the card at my local petsmart is green but they wrote in semi aggressive.

Bumblebee cats proper usually are semi aggressive, usually territorial about their favourite resting places at the very least. I wouldnt trust the LFS info, theres probably some bloke in a back room somewhere who knows nothing about those fish just printing off the cards. Petsmart is generally not considered the pinnacle of fishkeeping information.lol

Too totally true, lhg. Which is why I made this post in the first place!

Listen! Do you smell that?

Unlike many other pseudopims, microglanis are the most peaceful of peaceful fish. I've never had them misbehave in my tanks.

I have two of these cats in my semi-agressive community. I too got them at petsmart. The only problem I've had with them is that if any fish brush up against their mouths they will try to eat them. I would guess that their might be a chance of a danio going missing during the night in your tank as that is the only time when a bumblebee catfish would have a chance of catching one.

The smallest tankmates he has are my zebra danios, which he was chasing around the tank the first night he was in there, but even the smalles golden zebra (about 1/4" long) held his own with the bb cat, so I guess they're ok together. At least for now.

Your golden zebras will be fine. I've had microglanis BB's since way back and they've never harmed a soul, including tiny cherry barbs and chequered barbs. They do have a rather large mouth, but seem to leave their tankmates alone

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