Panaque Spp.

[nmonks]

Hello --

I was talking (well, e-mailing) with a scientist working on Panaque spp. yesterday, and learned a few interesting things. Most of us here probably known that this genus eats wood.

But what I didn't realise was that feeding them the usual mixed plec diet is actually bad for them!

Specifically, this guy has dissected a bunch of aquarium specimens that had died young (i.e., at 5 or less years of age). All had too much fat around the internal organs. He recommends only feeding things like algae to a Panaque, as well as wood, and never animal protein (prawn, mussel, bloodworms, etc.). In his opinion, aquarists giving Panaque too high a protein/calorie diet is a major cause of mortality. In fact, so long as there is wood in the tank, he says, "people do not have to [to be] worried too much about their food". Only Panaque and Cochliodon spp. digest wood, none of the other plecs digest wood, even if they may eat some of it while scraping off the algae.

Another thing I had not realised was that the bristles on Panaque do not signify males. In fact, "There is no evidence that males develop more odontodes than females", and in the wild, "P. nigrolineatus ... females with eggs tend to develop a lot of odontodes".

One last thing. I had thought Panaque was always pronounced "pan ack". But apparently in the US "pan aki" is common and in Japan it is "panakue".

Hope this is of interest.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Fella]

Hello --

I was talking (well, e-mailing) with a scientist working on Panaque spp. yesterday, and learned a few interesting things. Most of us here probably known that this genus eats wood.

But what I didn't realise was that feeding them the usual mixed plec diet is actually bad for them!

Specifically, this guy has dissected a bunch of aquarium specimens that had died young (i.e., at 5 or less years of age). All had too much fat around the internal organs. He recommends only feeding things like algae to a Panaque, as well as wood, and never animal protein (prawn, mussel, bloodworms, etc.). In his opinion, aquarists giving Panaque too high a protein/calorie diet is a major cause of mortality. In fact, so long as there is wood in the tank, he says, "people do not have to [to be] worried too much about their food". Only Panaque and Cochliodon spp. digest wood, none of the other plecs digest wood, even if they may eat some of it while scraping off the algae.

Another thing I had not realised was that the bristles on Panaque do not signify males. In fact, "There is no evidence that males develop more odontodes than females", and in the wild, "P. nigrolineatus ... females with eggs tend to develop a lot of odontodes".

One last thing. I had thought Panaque was always pronounced "pan ack". But apparently in the US "pan aki" is common and in Japan it is "panakue".

Hope this is of interest.

Cheers,

Neale

That's great reading Neale, well worth posting!

I'd always pronounced it as "pan ack" as well till I read an article on planetcatfish with regards to collecting them in the wild and the locals talking about them. I can't remember the particular article though I'm afraid!

It's great to see we still have a lot to learn about species we thought we were familiar with!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i've always pronounced it "pahn-nah-kay" as if it was a Spanish word.

sorry to dig out an old post, but i've got some questions on the critters. a friend of mine is getting involved in a reasearch project concerning wood-eating plecos, or more specifically the wood-eating bacteria living in the catfish's stomach. anyways, he's asked me to help him create a set-up at home to keep some specimens there. (whee, an excuse to set up another tank!)

neale, any preliminary advice? i've yet to recieve the details as to species, test duration, etc. i'll probably be back later to ask more preguntas. the only one that i can think of at the moment is if panaques are typically territorial and with conspecific aggression.

 

[nmonks]

Hi there --

Well, I'm no expert on these catfish. I suggest that your friend visit PlanetCatfish.com; there's a forum there as well as a tonne of other resources. It's a must-see for anyone into catfish.

The scientist I was talking with has pictures of his aquarium up, here. It's an awesome-looking tank. Lots of wood, lots of water movement, not too much light. My panaque is in a regular community tank with plants and sand, and doesn't seem notably unhappy. It put up with 7 years in a mbuna tank, too. So I don't think they're real picky.

From what I can tell, they're usually territorial, but mine coexisted with a bristlenose plec for years. So it might vary on the size of the tank, how old the fish are when they meet, etc.

Cheers,

Neale

neale, any preliminary advice? i've yet to recieve the details as to species, test duration, etc. i'll probably be back later to ask more preguntas. the only one that i can think of at the moment is if panaques are typically territorial and with conspecific aggression.