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his is the first Factsheet of a new year (2006) and it marks a significant milestone in the history of ScotCat as we are now entering into the ninth year of bringing the latest information to you on anything that is remotely connected to the wonderful world of the Catfish.

I go right back to the early eighties when I first started to take a keen interest in Catfish and in these days there was a great interest here in the U.K. in the first of Dave Sands books "Catfishes of the World" Vol. 1 which was published in 1983. The third volume (1984) concentrated on the Auchenipteridae and Pimelodidae families and it is this edition that took my interest in the then new finds of the new genes, Brachyrhamdia.

There was a difference of opinion on whether the first species identified, B. imitator, was indeed a Pimelodella, Pimelodella imitator. A paper written in 1986 by John Lundberg and Lucinda McDade on this catfish stated that "‘Pimelodella and Brachyrhamdia differ in the former having the posterior cranial fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the supraoccipital whereas it closes to two small foramina in the latter (updated S.Grant, March 2010). They do also state that Brachyrhamdia is a deeper bodied fish than the Pimelodella genus.

Brachyrhamdia meesi

The Brachyrhamdia genus was thought to be monotypic (one species) until 1985 when Barry Black and David Sands identified two more species in B. marthae and B. meesi.

There are as of date (updated March 2010), 5 species of Brachyrhamdia, B. heteropleura, B. imitator, B. rambarrani, B. marthae. and this months subject Brachyrhamdia meesi. These catfish have now been removed from their close relatives the Pimelodidae family and are now placed in a new family, Heptapteridae.

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Brachyrhamdia meesi

The Brachyrhamdia species tend to be "mimics" of Corydoras species and shoal with them. This is known as Batesian mimicry (Sands 1990) and they share colour patterns and eye masks of very many Corydoras species. They steal substrate food from the Corydoras and are protected in the larger shoal from large predators.

They are like most pims, terrritorial with their own kind, and as such it is advisable if keeping more than one that it will need to be over two so that the aggression is spread and diluted through a small group.

Hiding places such as pipework/rocks/slates is a good idea to keep them confident in their own surroundings. Water quality would need to be bright with either internal or external power filters for water movement and with water hardness as low as possible.

Acknowledgment: Steven Grant for extra information.

Mees' pimelodid

Pimelodella meesi

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South America: Amazon River basin: Near Belem, Brazil.

8.0cm. (3¼ins)

24-26°C (75-79°F)

Deep pim-like body. Three pairs of barbels. Posterior cranial fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the supraoccipital.

Not to be trusted with smaller inmates such as smaller tetras and fry but will do fine with larger Barbs etc. May nip Corydoras and other Brachyrhamdia species when feeding, so you will need to keep an eye out for this behaviour.

As yet unknown.

There are no known external sexual differences, but females are probably more robust in the body.

Readily accepts all manner of prepared foods. Catfish pellets and tablets and are particularly fond of frozen bloodworm and other "wormlike" foods.

Fontanel: The space(s) between the bones on top of the skull covered by skin.
Supraoccipital: Unpaired bone at the back at the back of the skull, usually with a crest.

Brachyrhamdia: Brachy = short; rhamdia = from the vernucular name 'Nhamdiá or 'Jamdiá.
meesi: In honour of Dr.G. Mees of the Leiden Natural History Museum, Germany.

Grant, Steven. pers comm.
Sands, David; Catfishes of the World Vol.3: Auchenipteridae & Pimelodidae. Dunure Publications. 1984.
Sands, David; Practical Fishkeeping, Look-Lively Lookalikes, p12-15 (no date).

Photo Credits

Top image:       ©  Allan James @
Bottom Image: © Chris Ralph