Leopard cteno surprise

[Betta132]

I recently had to move my leopard ctenopoma, and I didn't want him to get his little dorsal spines caught in a net, so I moved him by hand and got two surprises. First, he's very rough- almost like uniformly textured tree bark. Second, he immediately started croaking. Not only was that weird (I didn't know ctenopoma can croak!), it made a very strange grinding sensation. Felt like he had two little gears inside him that needed oil.
I assume the croaking noise is produced by vibrating the swim bladder. It wasn't very loud, and I doubt I'll ever hear him underwater until he gets a lot bigger, but it's still kinda cool.

 

[tlindsey]

Wow that was very interesting thanks for sharing .

 

[krichardson]

The leopard cteonopomas are among my favorite fish to keep.I have never heard of them making any kind of sounds though so that is interesting.How big is your leopard?

 

[Betta132]

He's just a little guy, about 1.5".
Maybe it's a distress sound, like with spotted raphael cats? He was out of the water, and that's a pretty good reason for a fish, even an anabantoid, to not be very happy.
It was very quiet, I probably wouldn't have noticed without feeling the vibrations. Sounded like one of those wooden frogs with the jagged backs, the ones that make noise if you rub a stick along them.