Breeding Striped Raphael Catfish (Platydoras Armatulus) In The Aquarium

Location

This freshwater fish lives in dark-water tributaries of Amazon River.

Body description

Colour of the fish is light beige. There are 2 wide, brown stripes on the sides of the fish. The species has 3 pairs of barbels. The fish has defensive bone plates instead scales along the lateral line and it has defensive spikes on the tail. The dorsal and pectoral fins are serrated.

Temperament and behaviour

This is peaceful, friendly and strong species. It never attacks other fish for no reason but it can effectively defend it self. It can eat small fish. This species usually is active in the evening and at night. You should feed them then. The fish is greedy for food so it is easy to overfeed it. It can make sounds when it is taken out of the water - fish screeches then. These fish prefers to swim at the bottom water level. You should not use net to catch this fish and you should transport it in a bucket or plastic container instead of a bag because it may damage it and the water will start leaking.

Aquarium decoration

The aquarium should have soft substrate (sand or fine gravel), hiding-places among rocks, caves, plants, dimmed light. The fish likes to dig in the substrate so you need all decorative elements to be firmly attached. You may also keep this species in the "black water" biotope tank.

Breeding

This is an oviparous species but it is imported. We do not have any information about breeding these fish in aquarium.