Tag Archives: Leiarius

Leiarius marmoratus

10. February 2021

There are two species of catfish in South America that look like siblings: Leiarus marmoratus (called “Achara” by the natives) and Leiarius (formerly: Perrunichthys) perruno. Both species attain a length of about 60 cm, have the very same leopard pattern and the long, ringed whiskers. But there does exist an easily recognizable difference: Leiarius marmoratus has 10-11 rays in the dorsal fin, L. perruno only 8. The fish usually have the dorsal fin erected. So it is pretty easy to count the finrays on a sharp photo.

Due to the attractive pattern and the peaceful nature of the fish (any tankmate that does not fit as food will be ignored), acharas are much sought for by enthusiasts that love big fish. However, they are only rarely available on the ornamental fish market. Currently we have a number of very charming youngsters from Peru in stock, which are 5-7 cm long.

For our customers: the fish have code 265202 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade. Available in limited numbers only!

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Hey, hey, hey, hey, little pirate…

5. April 2019

This is the chorus of a Rodgau Monotones´ song about a small employee who breaks out of his hated everyday life and puts on an eye patch to continue living as a pirate in the future. We had to think of this song when a magnificent Leiarius pictus from Peru arrived on Wednesday. The animal is already a good 30-35 cm long, so it is certainly sexually mature (the maximum length for this species is 60 cm). Of course he will have a completely different and probably much longer and more pleasant life in the aquarium than in nature, but we were reminded of the little pirate when this beautiful fish calmly turned around and presented his side that had been turned away from us until then. Here the eye is missing! No question, the fish lost that in the hard fight for survival in nature. The wound has healed excellently and for fish the facial sense generally does not play such a big role, because they have numerous other sensory organs. So we hope that our little pirate will soon find a new home despite his physical blemish.

For our customers: the animal has code 265307 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer