Armored Catfish

COMMON NAMES: Armoured Catfish

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Callichthys callichthys.

DESIGNATION: Tropical but can tolerate the upper end of the coldwater range for shortperiods.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Tropical South America

SIZE: 20 cm (8 in), but usually smaller.

WATER PREFERENCES: Not critical. Temperature: 24-26°C (75-79°F), but may be as low as 18°C (64.5°F) for short periods.

DIET: All foods, particularly worms.

BREEDING: As indicated by one of the common names, eggs are laid in a bubble nest, often built among surface vegetation. The male guards the eggs until they hatch but then abandons them. Males make grunting noises during courtship.

DESCRIPTION: There is a closely related genus, Hoplosternum, species of which are difficult to distinguish from C. callichthys (which, incidentally, is the only representative species of its genus).

According to David Sands, the following are good diagnostic features: (i) Callichthys callichthyshas very small eyes and a rounded caudal fin; (ii) Hoplostertzum thoracatum has large eyes and a straight-edged caudal fin; (iii) H.littorale has a forked caudal fin; and (iv) H.pectorale has a similar caudal fin to Callichthys but is a much smaller fish and has two elongate (rictal) barbels which can reach forward half the length of the fish's body.

Armored Catfish Information

• There are about 50 different species of armored fish. Their native place is in South American water bodies but now they have also adapted themselves with the streams and canals of Florida as well. The fish is peaceful in nature and as a result of which it can stay along with other native fish of Florida.
• The fish is of small sized variety and unlike other types of cat fish this fish only can grow up till 2 foot in wild.
• The fish prefers to stay in moving waters of streams rather than stagnant water. It also has the capacity to crawl in the ground with the aid of the pectoral fins for quite a long distance in land. Like the fish varieties of gur, bowfish or lungfish this specie of fish has a special secondary breathing system. With the aid of this special adaptation of the breathing system the fish is able to swallow oxygen from the open air which is then take up with the fine capillary blood vessels located in the walls of the intestines.
• In wild the fish feed themselves in aquatic animals like the small sized carrions and water fleas. The fish has another special adaptation having the mouth ending more like a sucker. Since the fish stays mainly in moving waters the suckers actually helps the fish to cling to rock surfaces at the time of heavy flowing water current. While clicking to the rocks the fish can also feed on the algae that grow on the surfaces of the stones.