Angel catfish
| Angel catfish | ||||||||||||
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Angel catfish ( Pimelodus pictus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pimelodus pictus | ||||||||||||
| Steindachner , 1876 |
The angel catfish ( Pimelodus pictus ; from Latin pictus “painted”, “painted”), also called the painted antenna catfish , is a freshwater fish native to the western and northern, Peruvian , Colombian and Venezuelan parts of the Amazon basin , including the Río Marañón and Río Ucayali .
features
Angel catfish reach a body length of a maximum of 25 cm and have a striking, silvery-white, very shiny color. Numerous dark brown to black, large, round spots appear on the sides of the body, on the dorsal, anal and triangular adipose fin . On the caudal fin, the spots can merge into ribbons. The fins are more bluish-white, the rear edge of the dorsal fin black. There are three silvery-white, long barbels on the snout . The side line can be seen as a white line. Gender differences are not known.
- Fin formula : dorsal I / 6, anal 0/10, pectoral I / 9, ventral 0/6.
Way of life
Angel catfish are lively, mainly crepuscular and nocturnal schooling fish that feed omnivorously .
Aquaristics
Angel catfish are caught in the aquarium hobby because of their attractive color and liveliness and are imported to Europe. However, they become too big for normal home aquariums. All fish sold in pet shops are wild-caught. An offspring in captivity has not yet been successful.
Web links
- Angel catfish on Fishbase.org (English)
literature
- Hans-Jochim Franke: Handbook of Welskunde. Urania-Verlag, 1985.
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Axel Zarske: Pimelodus pictus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. 2 volumes. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 777.