anyone can identify this fish?

[gwen]

i think its some kind of loach, but the very long ventral fin i havent seen on any other loaches

cant take a pic, he hides a lot if theres light, but at http/photos.yahoo.com/iab980 there is as good of a drawing as i could manage; file is called "mandrake", which is what i called the fish

please help?

 

[ryan]

How big is this fish? What colour?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi gwen

I'm going to move your thread over to the Cyprinids and Characins forum where it will be seen by more people who know about loaches.

Good luck

 

[jams.alaskan]

You did an awesome job at that drawing! Good luck finding out what he is.

ALASKA

 

[gwen]

figured out what it is: a stinging catfish

 

[ryan]

Heteropneustes fossilis? They have a powerful and posioness sting. There are reports of fatal encounters between large specimens of these fish and humans. You have a 20" fish there. He will eat anything that he can fit into his mouth that he can catch. Slow swimming fish are "BUZZED" by the catfish at night.

 

[gwen]

yeah, read all that; he's all alone in the qtank now, gotta figure out what to do with him

 

[modernhamlet]

I guess the big question is: Are you going to keep him?

 

[gwen]

ideally, i'd love to keep him; he looks really neat, all black and scary but i don't think i can give him the amount of space he needs once he grows; they go up to 20 inches; he'd need like a 200 gals tank at the very least i dont have that kind of space, or that kind of money . Yet.

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

it look either like a kuhli loach or a black ghost knife(from your drawings)

 

[bshockstubb]

This fish can be the electric catfish (Malapterurus electricus) It stuns its prey (fish) then eats them. It is strictly a carnivor. It can be colored greyish-brown to reddish or yellowish. It has no dorsal fin. It has 3 pairs of barbels and fleshy lips. It can also be a Bumblebee Catfish ( Pseudopimelodus Ranius Raninus) Your Welcome

 

[Lateral Line]

My first thought when I saw the picture was a fossilis, but whatever, I do not believe it is a loach, that dorsal fin just screams big cat to me. I'm going to move it back to Catfish!

 

[guppygirl]

looks like a knifefish to me.... hmm.

 

[Perky]

My LFS has albino versions. £7