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Ok here is the deal. At work we have this crazy catfish. It is probably about 3-4 inches long with a tail that looks much like a knife fish. No one at work seems to really know what it is. I have not picked the bosses brain yet but I probably will tomorrow.

I did a bit of research and this is what I have come up with at this point.

It is part of the SCHILBEIDAE family and I think it might be a Schibleidea grenfelli .

Today at work I was feeding the Rocket Gar some Rosies and while the Gar was working on his 2nd fish the Catfish tryed taking it from the gar. Let's just say it was pretty wild. Final the Gar gave it up and the Cat took it down. At this point I put another 2 Rosies in for the gar and I know for sure it took down one more. A little while later I came back and found the Cat taking down its 2nd rosy. This fish wasn't messing around.

Anyways! If anyone knows anything about what this fish might be or anything else about them I would love to hear from you. Thanks so much!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I just did a Google and came up with a big "Zero" sorry no help there.
Schibleidea grenfelli .

Keith

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Hard to say. Sounds to me like it;s something else; African sheet cats are rarely imported, as there's not a big market for them, thus specimens that come in are generally hideously expensive.

keithgh,

Yeah google didn't do me a lot of help either. I had to do quite a few searches just to get where I am now. I am pretty sure that it is a Schibe Grenfelli. the pictures seem to match up pretty well at least. I might have to actually go to a library and see what I can find out.

Cup_of_Lifenoodles,
This little guy is far from cute. Let's just get that in the open right now. I think that is might have came in on accident with another shipment of fish. They are in a tank with some baby Sun Cats (another fish I need to find more about).

I also think I found to more of these guys in another tank at work. I haven't gotten to look to closely yet.

Thanks for your help so far!



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Schilbeids. Ah. Fun fishes these.

They do, if you look carefully, have a forked caudal fin at the end of the body, but it tends to be small in relation to the vast sweep of the anal fin. The general shape of these fishes has led to them becoming known in some circles as African Glass Cats, even though they're not even remotely translucent - it's the resemblance in shape to the more familiar Glass Catfish that is the reason for the name here. Ho hum.

Schilbe mystus, the species discussed in my Braz Walker pocket book, reaches nearly 15 inches when fully grown and can swallow a fish one-third of its own size with ease. The species should be kept in a group of its own kind with companions that are too big to fit into its considerable mouth, in an aquarium that is moderately lit, with shaded areas provided by floating plants, and plenty of cover in the form of bogwood tangles and other cave structures. Be advised that Schilbeids are VERY adept at helping themselves to vulnerable tankmates as an expensive lunch during the night! Most species can be expected to be substantial fishes when fully grown, and likely to need something like 100 gallons per individual - so if you have six of them, that's a 600 gallon aquarium just for the catfish, never mind anything else sharing their quarters!

Persuading them to eat won't be a problem. Keeping their appetites under control, on the other hand, will be! And with their prodigious ability to swallow morsels of food that look physically impossible to you or I, you can bet that they also possess a suitably powerful ability to soil the aquarium via the other end. Combine gluttonous feeding habits with large amounts of excrement (some of which will be only partly digested if the fishes are mistakenly allowed to gorge) and the need for top-quality filtration becomes readily apparent. These fishes can convert an aquarium full of clear water into one that resembles a container of mud soup in a surprisingly short space of time if the filtration system isn't up to the job - you're looking at top-spec Eheim external power filtration, preferably multiple units on the one aquarium, to make sure that the water isn't thoroughly polluted by these self-propelled poop machines! However, given that Schilbe species usuaally like to feed in low light conditions, I'm tempted to move on here ...

Check the provenance of your fish. If your fish is Asian as opposed to African, then you may well have something entirely different. Similar in shape to the Schilbeids, but radically different from a classification standpoint, is the Helicopter Catfish, known as Wallago attu. This, like the Schilbeids, has a long anal fin and a tiny tail. The important difference here is that the Helicopter Catfish is not only a LOT more aggressive than the Schilbeids, but grows bigger too ... here is a picture of a medium sized one. Big ones reach seven feet in length. I'd check to make sure you don't have one of these, because the habits you describe sound about right for a Wallago species - huge appetite in daylight hours as opposed to evening time, willing to pick fights with fishes as big or bigger than itself, and a capacious mouth that can take morsels even a Schilbe would have trouble with.

I'd check to make sure, because juvenile Wallago catfishes can look even more like Knife Fishes than the Schilbes.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Calilasseia,

Wowo!!! Thanks for all your help! I am pretty sure it is the fish that I found not the crazy other fish. The thing that sets them apart is the placement of the mouth. Mine is more of a front opening where yours is the whole head. 15 inches isn't as bad as I thought it might be. They are pretty cool fish but not something for me! I will just have to be careful if any one wants to buy one of these guys. I should also talk to the bosses to see if they have a clue.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

"This little guy is far from cute. Let's just get that in the open right now. I think that is might have came in on accident with another shipment of fish. They are in a tank with some baby Sun Cats (another fish I need to find more about).

I also think I found to more of these guys in another tank at work. I haven't gotten to look to closely yet. "

Well, I think they're cute. . Incidentally, I was thinking that you might be mistaking them for sun cats, as they do appear similar. Truth is, the species is highly variable in coloration, and is a far cry from the Congo, thus it is unlikely that the fish you describe is indeed a sheet cat (schilbeid). You *might* have a BTC, as their ranges do overlap, but they do tend to be much rarer. I'm willing to bet good money that if what you have isn't either of the two, then it's probably an ompok.



Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 05-Dec-2005 10:27

Cup_of_Lifenoodles,

Now you have me guessing! Would the fish that you think it is eat the crap out of two rossies??

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Here is Ompok bimaculatus. It's one of several Ompok species that vary considerably in size. This one reaches 18 inches. it's cited as being unsafe with small fishes, though peaceful with fishes that it can't swallow, and although it may be a good match appearance wise, I'd check the temperament against your 'badass' catfish, which still sounds to me as though it could be something large and aggressive.

If we're starting to look at Silurids, then this fellow could be a possibility too - Belonodontichthys dinema, a two-foot obligate piscivore that will ONLY eat live fishes and which is aggressive to boot.

One thing that I'm sincerely HOPING you haven't acquired by accident is a baby Wels, Siluris glanis. This is the Ultimate Grandfather Badass Catfish Of All Time™ both size wise and predation wise - take a look at this photograph and weep when you read that this 212 lb specimen is a juvenile. This is a fish that takes 'tank buster' into a complete new dimension - how does five metres fully grown sound to you? This is a fish that would be too big to fit in my living room even if I filled it to the picture rails with water, which would comprise a whopping 36,000 litres of water (over 9,000 US gallons)! to say that this fish needs a colossal aquarium is a bit like saying that the Pope has a passing familiarity with Catholicism - an aquarium for this species is a civil engineering project on a par with building your own nuclear power station!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

All of these fish look so much a like! This is going to be a hard one to solve. Is there anything on the fish that could set it off as being one or the other? Maybe I will have to talk to the boss see if they know anything. If they don't or maybe even if they say they do, bring in a camera and take some pictures for you guys.

Thanks so far!! This is a lot of fun!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric