Neosilurus brevidorsalis Experience?

[SpecialKay]

Does anyone have experience with Neosilurus brevidorsalis catfish? I'm debating on getting one, but haven't been able to find much info on this species.

I want to put one in my 80 gal (containing 4x P. Senegalus, 1x mystus bocourti, and 6x m. vanheurni), but I am worried it may be aggressive and attack my other fish.

 

[Fishman Dave]

I would not expect the neosilurus to be aggressive. Especially as it’s also one of the smaller ones. If anything I would expect the rainbows to be at more risk from the bocourti, especially as it gets towards its 9” size, not so much from eating them, as this mystus have a relatively small mouth, but from scaring them to death at night with their activity and really long whiskers.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Pretty inactive during the day, but not necessarily a big hider, from what I've seen. Seems to prefer frozen to pellets, not sure how readily one would take processed foods. Supposedly quite active at night, but not overly so. Would expect it to be passive for the most part; they don't seem very belligerent and more skittish than anything else. Prefers dim lighting. Pretty hardy for the most part, and adapts well to most tanks. May dig around in the substrate, as some Neosilurus are liable to do. I'd be a bit worried about the sens nipping the catfish, but it probably won't be a big issue.

 

[SpecialKay]

I would not expect the neosilurus to be aggressive. Especially as it’s also one of the smaller ones. If anything I would expect the rainbows to be at more risk from the bocourti, especially as it gets towards its 9” size, not so much from eating them, as this mystus have a relatively small mouth, but from scaring them to death at night with their activity and really long whiskers.

Wow, I didn't know the whiskers could stress out other fish. I'll move the Mystus to another tank.

Pretty inactive during the day, but not necessarily a big hider, from what I've seen. Seems to prefer frozen to pellets, not sure how readily one would take processed foods. Supposedly quite active at night, but not overly so. Would expect it to be passive for the most part; they don't seem very belligerent and more skittish than anything else. Prefers dim lighting. Pretty hardy for the most part, and adapts well to most tanks. May dig around in the substrate, as some Neosilurus are liable to do. I'd be a bit worried about the sens nipping the catfish, but it probably won't be a big issue.

That actually sounds quite good! Do they have venomous spines?

Also, are they compatible with knife fish? I may replace the mystus with an X. Nigri, and I heard knifefish don't quite like other knifefish. The N. Brev isn't a knife, but it does look somewhat similar.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Long whiskered active catfish can stress other fish since they are more often nocturnal, a time when other fish tend to go into hiding or slow right down.
However, worth also being aware that catfish with long whiskers can also freak themselves out in small tanks when their whiskers are also always touching things, but more so when they can touch both the front and back of their confined space at the same time. Obviously usually something more to worry about with bigger growing cats than the bocourti.

 

[Friller2009]

Right so I've been keeping Eel tail cats for a couple of years now, (Ater, Rendahli, Obbesi) and they are from what I've found and spoken to people in ANGFA about, they are generally really peaceful. I've kept ater ~20/25 cm with young M. Duboulayi and they did fine and grew to be quite a decent size, only just moved them out couple days ago to start breeding. Video link below

Obbesi are super placid, kept them with some subadult Tris and the tris are more food aggressive so that was one issue i had when I was getting the obbesi onto pellets.
Rendahli do well kept them with platys as dithers and haven't had any issues.

All plotosids have venomous spines.

As I stated previously I just moved out my dubs from my ater, and I added in my sen, two syno occleifers and my small eyed gudgeon. They all seem to be doing fine, I haven't noticed any aggression or fin nipping whatsoever.

I wouldn't put in a knifefish, Had a mate who kept a BGK with a Tandanus Tandanus and the BGK clobbered the crap out it at night. So pass on that

Plotosids to best on sand in my experience, the smaller species tend to get startled really easily by sudden experience, and gravel can damage them when they dive down into the substrate.

If you need i'll PM you some pics from Australian native fishes for aquariums and Australian freshwater fishes biology and management.

Also i''m assuming you're not in AUS because you got vanheurni, so the brevi has probably come in from PNG so quarantine for sure.

 

[SpecialKay]

Right so I've been keeping Eel tail cats for a couple of years now, (Ater, Rendahli, Obbesi) and they are from what I've found and spoken to people in ANGFA about, they are generally really peaceful. I've kept ater ~20/25 cm with young M. Duboulayi and they did fine and grew to be quite a decent size, only just moved them out couple days ago to start breeding. Video link below

Obbesi are super placid, kept them with some subadult Tris and the tris are more food aggressive so that was one issue i had when I was getting the obbesi onto pellets.
Rendahli do well kept them with platys as dithers and haven't had any issues.

All plotosids have venomous spines.

As I stated previously I just moved out my dubs from my ater, and I added in my sen, two syno occleifers and my small eyed gudgeon. They all seem to be doing fine, I haven't noticed any aggression or fin nipping whatsoever.

I wouldn't put in a knifefish, Had a mate who kept a BGK with a Tandanus Tandanus and the BGK clobbered the crap out it at night. So pass on that

Plotosids to best on sand in my experience, the smaller species tend to get startled really easily by sudden experience, and gravel can damage them when they dive down into the substrate.

If you need i'll PM you some pics from Australian native fishes for aquariums and Australian freshwater fishes biology and management.

Also i''m assuming you're not in AUS because you got vanheurni, so the brevi has probably come in from PNG so quarantine for sure.

That is some very nice info!

I do have sand substrate, and plan on feeding mostly frozen with vitachem to supplement micronutrients. Also, I would appreciate the PM, the tank will need a bit more stocking after I move out the mystus.

I'm located in the US, what do you mean with PNG? Is there anything specific I should watch for during quarantine?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Papua New Guinea

 

[SpecialKay]

So I thought I should do an update, after about 2 weeks in with the N. Brevi. It was shy the first 2 days and hid a lot, but has since become fully accustomed to it's new environment. It lounges around the back of the tank during the day, and is pretty active during feeding time. Seems to love chopped tilapia and swai, not so much the sinking pellets.

On another note, my M. Bocourti is not doing well at all after being moved to it's new tank. It's stopped eating and is getting skinnier by the day...

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Something or someone is stressing out the mystus.