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Misc Lizards 8
Misc Lizards 9


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LA
Eight-inch sun catfish living in harmony with a 14-inch royal clown knife fish.

LA
Well, almost in harmony.  They like to rip goldfish out of his mouth.

LA
Some 1.5 inchers.

Name:  These chubby little catfishes have more names than a credit card thief.  We usually see them for sale in our neighborhood as sun catfish.  We know they come from India, but they are also called spotted gold Thai catfish, and Günther’s catfish, and solar catfish, and eclipse catfish, and bullseye catfish, and golden red-tail catfish.  But, as Will Shakespeare said back so many years ago, “A catfish by any other name would still smell.”  Whoops, I almost forgot, some people call them Horabagrus brachysoma.  The Hora part in their name is in honor of the Indian Ichthyologist, Dr. S. L. Hora.

LA
Same sun catfish no longer rooting in the gravel for food -- chunky bellies.

Origin:  Sun catfish originally came from the Kerala region in southern India.  But the Thais got hold of them and started experimenting with fish squeezing and freezing the sperm for later use.  It’s a little more complicated than our local walleye factories.  Seems the males and females don’t always come into season at the same time.  The Thais probably use the standard carp pituitary extract injections (sort of a piscatorial Viagra).  I already checked.  You cannot get this stuff at Walgreens -- with or without a prescription.  You could check with your local Chinese apothecary.  You can usually find it on the shelf between the jars with the Kodiak bear gall bladders and the powdered rhinoceros horn.

LA
Sun catfish do enjoy their chow.  They eat off the bottom ...

LA
... and sun catfish eat off the top -- and in the middle.  He's just getting started.

LA
And sun catfish keep eating until it's all gone.

Foods:  Sun catfish inhale most foods.  It’s fun to watch them sort thru the gravel in search of tiny cichlid pellets.  They also eat flake foods.  They swell up faster on larger pellets.  And, of course, sun catfish Hoover any fishes small enough to fit into their mouths.  They love live worms, live brine shrimp, and ghost shrimp.  They eat just as much if they’re frozen or freeze dried.  Sun catfish are not picky eaters.

LA
1.5-inch sun cat -- the size you're most likely to stumble across in a retail fish establishment.

LA
Five 1.5 inch sun catfish in a plastic cup with a bumblebee catfish.

LA
Two inchers still sticking together.

LA
11 five-inch sun cats under a ceramic turtle ramp.

Size:  Sun catfish usually hit the market at a little under two inches.  Do not mix them with neon tetras.  The little guys are nocturnal and/or shy.  Little sun catfish usually disappear in a planted tank.  You don’t see them for a while.  When you spot them again, they’ve grown an inch.  You can often coax them out with cichlid pellets or live California black worms.

Activity Level:  Food seems to trip their traipsing trigger.  Once sun catfish detect food in the water, they patrol their tank faster than the sharks in a teenage beach movie.  Except at feeding time, suns are perfectly content to hide in the nooks and crannies.

LA
The royal clown knife fish ignores this eight-inch sun catfish.

Tank Mates:  Most fish of equal or larger size (except African cichlids) will get along with sun catfish.  The suns defer to the larger guys unless they’re really hungry.  Think of sun catfish as shy channel cats.  They’re both good eaters with equivalent personalities.  Sun catfish do grow slower than channel catfish.

LA
Sun catfish love to eat.  Or did we decide this earlier?

Longevity:  Sun catfish probably live about ten years.  We haven’t kept any long enough to lock into a definite life span yet.  Sun catfish just look and act like a fish that comes with a 10-year warranty on their transmission and drive chain.

LA
Probable female above.  Probable male below.  But how you gonna check?

Sexing:  You probably cannot sex your sun catfish.  Even if you could, you will not likely breed them.  The Thais explain how to breed them artificially.  They give you the inside scoop on the web.  However, you can’t get the equipment (cryogenics?) handily or the chemicals you need.  They sell many chemicals in Thailand that you can’t find in Des Moines.

LA
Some five inchers in a dish pan.

LA
Happy, happy sun catfish gyring and gimbling in the wabe -- maybe even spawning.

LA
Just a happy sun catfish mellowing out.  Whiskers mean he's a predator.

Last Words:  Bigger fish, muggers, cooks, and cattle egrets pose the biggest threats to sun catfish in India.  In captivity, poor water conditions pose the biggest threats because these guys eat a lot.  Actually, sun catfish eat a lot and a half.  Make frequent partial water changes.  LA

© 2005, © 2006  LA Productions

Jaguar Spawning II
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Pond Info 
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