Specimen Photos; Dwarf Giraffe Catfish

[ScottishFish]

I have kept this species for over two years now, its species is - Anaspidoglanis macrostoma
There isn't a whole lot of indepth info on the internet about them. Most photographs you see are generally of juveniles around 1-2 inches, before the mouth elongates more substantially. So my specimen is approximately 5 inches the now. In several books I have the size ranges from 6-8-10 inches. I have elsewhere read that the females grow larger. I will document the growth of this fish as it continues. When I got it it was 1inch long, so two years of growth have taken us far! If anyone has any questions please ask, or else chime in if you have also kept this fish. I would love to hear other members experience!!

 

[GarNiac]

nice looking cat

 

[monsterkeeper87]

I kept 1 of these for about a year and never see it lol it's in my parents community tank now


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[ScottishFish]

A few of the books I have say it is not community suitable. I have never had any bother, even shares the same hides as 1inch khuli loaches. I do target feed it at night though. Got any pictures?

 

[Ian21777]

It's funny how individual fish vary. Mine is out most of the time. Took a while to settle in, but once it had... I got it a several months ago and its grown from a couple inches to around 6. Im curious as to how big it will eventually get. I've not got any recent pics, but heres from a couple months ago.

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[monsterkeeper87]

My ones growth rate seems much slower, I got it around an inch and it's only around 3-4 inch now and seems a lot lighter coloured than yours and the op's, maybe mines male or a different species? I will try to get pics next time I'm at my parents. I was told they reach around 8" in the wild


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[Yellowcat]

Nice to see rare pic's of larger a. macrostoma species, they resemble the closely related fish of of the genus parauchenoglanis as juveniles and are often mis identified as I imported a batch of what were supposed to be a. macrostoma that turned out to be a mix of p. balayi and p. punctuatus. P. punctatus and another, p. ngamensis, grow to larger sizes than a. macrostoma, males reach sizes of around 15", females grow to 17 1/2" as I've kept and raised males and females of both species. Liking several species of the family claroteidae including the larger auchenoglanis giraffe cats that grow too large for my tanks, the dwarf variety are much easier to keep and are my favorites. Here's some pic's of my Congo River parauchenoglanis species.. Upper left-p. balayi, only grew to 6", sadly gone, upper right p. ngamensis, older photo at 12" now 17", lower photo large female p. punctuatus..

 

[ScottishFish]

Getting some great reaponses here! Keep them coming!

Ian, your looks bulkier than mines and the growth rate is a lot faster. Perhaps yours could be a female and mines male?

Great fish there yellowcat, keep the pictures coming!

 

[Yellowcat]

As adults the differences between the male's and female's become obvious as the female fish become longer as well as gain more girth. This is true with parauchenoglanis species, at least p. punctatus and p. ngamensis anyway and I think the same would apply to anaspidoglanis species as well.. Here's pic's:

 

[wayne the pain]

Great thread, keep it coming.