Tag Archives: nebulosus

Ameiurus melas

6. May 2022

Among the aquarium fishes that have been kept already in the 1890ies belong the two species of bullhead catfish Ameiurus melas and A. nebulosus. Both species are very similar to each other and even specialists have problems to tell them apart. Initially bullhead catfish were brought to Europe as foodfish in the 1880ies from the USA, together with rainbow trout, pumkinseed, and brook trout. But the bullheads don´t grow as large here as they do in the original home country. They tend to reproduce early and develop mass populations of dwarfish animals that stop or at least reduce) growing after the first spawning. So the bullheads are considered to be unwanted invaders in European waters and as pests. One should never release unwanted aquarium kept bullheads, but one should never release any type of fish at all, may it be native or not.

But anyway: we are interested in keeping the fish in tanks or garden ponds, not in releasing them. Of course one may ask after a first examination of the fish, why a hobbyist should keep such a dull colored, predatory, large (over 20 cm) and basically night active species? But the bullheads have a fan community on their own. For example Nobel Prize winner Karl von Frisch studied the abilty of fish to hear on bullheads. Bullheads become tame and can be trained for sounds (for example a whistle). Once they are trained they leave their hiding place at any time of the day when they hear the whistle to search for food. Anyone who likes to keep an animal with character that is completely undemanding in respect of food (virtually any type of fish food is taken readily) or water chemistry (in fact a tank for bullheads needs no technical features at all) makes a good choice with bullheads.

Barring another miracle, the trade in bullheads will be banned throughout the EU from May 2022. The species is considered invasive (which is quite true) and it is expected from a trade ban that the number of feral catfish will decrease noticeably (which is almost impossible). So if you are interested in catfish, you should stock up on the specimens you need as soon as possible, as long as it is still legally possible.

For our customers: the fsh have code 820103 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Nandus nebulosus

3. July 2020

Via Singapore we have once again received Nandus nebulosus in beautiful, fully grown specimens. The species can, like all other leaf fish, change its colouring very fast and drastically, furthermore each specimen has an individually different marble pattern. Some of our new arrivals have a head profile which is much more pointed than expected from N. nebulosus and therefore look like the species N. proxilus described from Borneo and have – like these – only 14 dorsal fin spines (15-16 in N. nebulosus). But there are also typical N. nebulosus in our import. 

For more information about Nandus nebulosus (plus more pictures of another population) see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/nandus-nebulosus-2/

For our customers: the animals have code 438113 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Nandus nebulosus

28. September 2017

We received from Thailand the only rarely offered Nandus nebulosus. There are two, pretty similar species of Nandus occuring in Thailand: thre deep-bodied N. oxyrhynchus from the basins of the large rivers Mekong and Mae Klong and the somewhat more slender, short nosed species N. nebulosus from the south of the country. However, regions are known where both species occur sympatrically. The greatest part of the natural range of N. nebulosus is the Malaian Peninsula and Indonesia. 

In the wild, N. nebulosus is very often found in blackwater habitats. This type of water is very poor in respect of food and so the tiny size of N. nebulosus is a benefit. Uusally the species becomes 4-6 cm long, the largest specimen collected so far was 8 cm long.

Nandus nebulosus looks like an innocent child due to the short snout and the large eyes; the congeneric species look much more „predatory“. But one should not make the mistake to get N. nebulosus wrong: this fish easily swallows fish of half of its own body size. Besides this all Nandus species are very peaceful fish.

Nandids belonging to the genus Nandus do not take care for the brood, while most other members of the family do.

For our customers: the fish have code 438112 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer