Mees (1974) assigned this species
to Tatia but Ferraris (2007) reverted it
back to the original genera of Centromochlus.
Aquarium Care: Jeremy Basch of AmazonTropics.com
an expert on these catfishes states that unfortunately
this species constantly swims in the aquarium and
seems to be unable to detect the sides of the tank.
It's not really a good aquarium candidate as a result.
One might see better results in a tank with a constant
stream of water that goes across the tank. This would
require a fairly large pump or many jet lifters.This species never goes and hides, they literally
swim 99% of the time. I'll occasionally see them resting
on the ground but it's uncommon (Basch, Jeremy 2021).
Sexual Differences: The sexes can
be distinguished best by the shape of the maxillary
barbels, these barbels are curved in males, straight
in females. Diet: In its native habitat
they feed on small invertebrates and crustaceans and
in the aquarium they will eat anything given such
as frozen bloodworm, catfish tablets, white worm (sparingly),
prawns and shrimp. Etymology: The
genus name Centromochlus: kentron, thorn
or spine; mochlus, lever or crowbar, presumably referring
to strongly serrated dorsal-fin spine. The specific
name heckelii: in honour of Johann Jakob
Heckel (1790-1857), curator of fishes, Naturhistorisches
Museum in Vienna. Remarks:
Two features in the fish are very obvious, the large
eyes and the also the large pectoral fins which are
always spread. The spines of the pectoral fins should
be handled with care as one can become stung by them
and the spines also tend to tangle up in the meshs
of a net when it is necessary to catch the fish.
South America:Amazon and Orinoco River basins. Type
locality: Marañon River, upper Amazon
and Napo Rivers.
Size:
14.0cm (5½ins)
Temp:
26-28°c (79-83°f.)
p.H.
6.5-7.5.
Reference:
Basch, Jeremy.
AmazonTropics.com
pers. comm. 2021. Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist
of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes),
and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa
1418:1-628. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors.
2019. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication.
www.fishbase.org, ( 08/2019 ). Soares-Porto, L.M.,
1998. Monophyly
and interrelationships of the Centromochlinae (Siluriformes:
Auchenipteridae). p. 331-350. In L.R. Malabarba, R.E.
Reis, R.P. Vari, Z.M.S. Lucena and C.A.S. Lucena (eds.)
Phylogeny and classification of neotropical fishes.
Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. www.aquariumglaser.de
(Frank Schäfer).
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