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Is it already another week? Yes it is! And with this I bring another rare fish. I have introduced this fish on this board before, but it's so great I must give it it's own Rare Fish of the Week spot.

RFotW #5 -- Merodontotus tigrinus -- Tigrinus Catfish, Zebra Shovelnose



There's just something about black and white fish... This fish is no different. This Pimelodid easily catches prices of at least $125 at the meager size of 4". Larger fishes can easily catch prices of $400 and up. LiveAquaria dares to sell these fish at almost $1000! With the stripes and those tail streamers, it's definitely an attractive fish. They are not very common, of course, but they are appearing more and more in the trade than they used to. In fact, the Tigrinus season should be beginning in just a few weeks.

This fish is unlike most Pimelodids in that it's not that aggressive of a feeder. However, that is not to say that it won't eat fish it can swallow, it means that it is not likely to compete as well among other Pims such as the Red Tailed Catfish and the Tiger Shovelnose. This fish should otherwise readily accept many types of meaty foods, and lots of it!

The Tigrinus can be somewhat delicate, at least compared to other Pims. They do not tolerate high nitrates especially well and may stop feeding because of such conditions. However, keeping regular water changes will help you avoid such complications. Also, these fish respond badly to low amounts of oxygen, so proper aeration and current should be provided for these fish.

It's also remarkable to watch the development of the Tigrinus stripes. As babies these fish start as dark greyish fish, but as rapidly as they grow their stripes will begin to develop. The photo gallery in the links section shows the evolution of the stripes of an aquarist's Tigrinus.

Last but not least, this fish is not for a tank less than 24" wide and in depth, as this fish will get at least that length in the aquarium. They can live in smaller tanks temporarily, but a larger tank should be provided for these catfish as they grow.

Unfortunately, these fish have yet to be bred in captivity, however a certain owner of five or six Tigrinus plans to start a breeding project in time.

Links:

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=12118&genusname=Merodontotus&speciesname=tigrinus

http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/m_tigrinus.htm

http://imageevent.com/codomo/tigrinusshovelnosecatfish;jsessionid=j2honugpt1.buffalo_s

Past Rare Fish of the Week:
1. Polynemus paradiseus -- Paradise threadfin
2. Anableps anableps -- Four-Eyed Fish
3. Hypancistrus zebra -- Zebra Plec
4. Potamotrygon sp. -- Pearl Ray

Last edited by Shinigami at 03-Oct-2004 15:39[/font]

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Coolest yet! Man, someday ... too bad you'd miss out on some of the fun stripage if you kept them in an indoor pond. Except if one side was acrylic ....

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

I love these threads. Out of the five you have posted, I have only know about 3 of them. #5 was a complete surprise.

I also appreciate the fact that you go into detail about the care of the fish instead of just posting a picture and a few words. That is very responsible to type the care of the fish with your post so people just don't go out and buy it and not properly take care of it.

As a sidenote I hope you can keep this going, and with freshwater fish. Although you will have to probably venture into saltwater at some point.

Also, I think these FotW topics should be in another forum where they can get some more traffic, if not it's own forum. Who else agrees?

[Edit] Or at least post it in "Aquarium Oddities." But I still say your own forum.

Last edited by JediDragon at 03-Oct-2004 15:35

Wow these posts are great, shini. . . very informative and interesting. Please keep them coming, I love reading them

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated!

Though the focus of the Rare Fish of the Week is freshwater fish, I will be posting saltwater fish regularly as well among them. I intend this to cater to all sorts of enthusiasts, so I'm trying to pick fish of all different types, be they freshwater, saltwater, or brackish. However, having three bottom feeders in a row, you guys aren't gonna see another one in a few weeks.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

wow, that's pretty expensive for a what, two foot catfish? btw, i like the "fish of the week" idea. see if you can fit in the weedy scorpionfish sometime. i saw a pair of these full-grown at the aquarium of the pacific today, and now i know what i want. and that is... an expensive car and a pretty g/f. wait...

very cool, can`t wait til the 10th for your next fish. A cool fish I would like to find out loads more about is a Black Lancer, I have one but the only info I find on them is off Planet Catfish and I was wondering if there was anymore.

Sorry, I probably wouldn't be able to dig up much more info than what's already posted on PlanetCatfish if I did an article on them. Cool fish those Black Lancers are, though!:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

don`t worry, I was only wondering. Well he (or she) has been doing fine for the last few months and has grown quite a bit so I prresume I doin good

Are these similar to the tiger shovelnose? When I worked in the LFS near my place, someone sold it to use for $400AUD and it was like 2.5ft long...the biggest we had was a 5ft full with bronze goldfish. Ofcoarse the boss will put him in there, but he didnt realize that he will eat em. So...the next day we come back to check him out...half of the goldfish was missing and he was just sitting there with a huge stomach But, he was a lovely fish, and a rare fish in Australia too, IMO.

Though Tigrinus have a shovelnose-like body, other than that they are actually quite different. It's not even advised to keep Tigrinus with Tiger Shovelnoses as the Tigers may actually outcompete the Tigrinus for food.:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Ooh! I just saw one of these at The Fish Place in Buffalo - $399. Darned cute fish in person, though - and it was leaving the plants in its tank alone, which is always a plus.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!