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his month (November 2023) we have collaborated with Argentinean aquarist, naturalist and wildlife photographer Enzo Edgardo Ferreyra on one of his native catfish species, Hypostomus boulengeri. This species is similar to Hypostomus punctatus from southeastern Brazil but this species has larger spots to the head. It is also similar to H. formosae which has the tip of the snout completely covered with small plates vs. naked snout tip to H. boulengeri (see images below).

 

  Hypostomus boulengeri

 

This is one of the nicest representatives of the Hypostomus genera showing the red/orange fins when in good condition and dark spots to the body and fins. The spots on the head are smaller.

Enzo Edgardo Ferreyra: The feeding regime carried out was commercial food for omnivorous fish, some pumpkin, they never accepted other types of vegetables, and granulated food for carnivores. The aquarium I have them in is 144L, I would take this as the ideal size from then on, I have them with a lot of wood, and with no plants because they uproot them all. They are sociable as babies and somewhat territorial as adults, I see disputes over hiding places and at feeding times. The temperature I keep them in is between 26°C in winter and above 29°C in summer.

Its ecosystem, I can only give you information about the environments where I find the youngsters, they are shallow areas in areas with a substrate of large and small stones, they were hidden in the separations that are formed between the rocks, during the day it is easy to capture them with the hands. In the rivers they have a moderate to high current.

 

  Hypostomus boulengeri

 

Hypostomus boulengeri - ventral view

 

H. boulengeri - tip of snout is naked

 

H. formosae - tip of snout with small plates

 

In a paper written in by Felipe Alonso, Guillermo Terán, Gastón Aguilera, and Juan Marcos Mirande in 2016, and titled, First record of Hypostomus boulengeri (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from Bermejo River basin. Abstract: Hypostomus boulengeri (Eigenmann and Kennedy, 1903) is a poorly known species recorded from the Paraguay and Paraná River basins. In this work we report the occurrence of this species in the Bermejo River basin for the first time, representing a distribution range extension of more than 600 km.

The Bermejo River Basin, in southern South America, extends over some 123,000 km2, originating in the Andes Mountains of northwestern Argentina and southern Bolivia. The river, which flows some 1,300 km, links two major geographic features: the Andean Cordillera and the Paraguay-Paraná Rivers.

Distrbution: Map of the Rio de la Plata Basin showing the Paraná River and its major tributaries. Type locality: Matto Grosso or Asuncion, Paraguay.

The Río de la Plata basin, more often called the River Plate basin in scholarly writings, sometimes called the Platine basin or Platine region, is the 3,170,000-square-kilometre hydrographical area in South America that drains to the Río de la Plata. The La Plata Basin comprises almost all the southern part of Brazil, the south-eastern part of Bolivia, a large part of Uruguay, the whole of Paraguay, and an extensive part of northern Argentina. It covers about 3.6 million km2. In terms of geographical extent, the basin is the fifth largest in the world and second only to the Amazon Basin in South America. The principal sub-basins are those of the Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers.

None

Plecostomus boulengeri

Hypostominae

South America: Paraguay River basin, Argentina. Type locality: Matto Grosso or Asuncion, Paraguay.

24.5cm. (9¾ins)

23-26°c (73-79°f.)

Dorsal fin with a spine and seven rays. The anal fin has a spine and 3 to 5 rays, while the adipose fin has a spine and a small membrane. The pectoral fins has a large toothed spine and six rays. The ventral fins each have a spine and five rays. The gill opening is very narrow.

Will need a good sized aquarium of 5ft (150cm.) or over due to their final adult size. As this genus in the main are messy eaters, good water quality and filtration would need to be adhered to.

They have been known to lay their eggs in tubes or driftwood with holes in it where they will lay up to 500 eggs. The parents will then clean the hole or crevice before the female lay's and there may be some aggression on the part of the male during this process. The male will then look after the eggs by fanning water over them and cleaning them. The eggs will hatch in about 7 days or so and the male will protect them until they are large enough to furrow on their own. In their natural habitat they will lay eggs in burrows dug into the banks of rivers.

Males grow larger and have longer fins especially the pectoral and caudal fins.

Will eat all manner of foods in the aquarium, vegetable, tablet, pellet foods and good quality flake.

Anal fin: The median, unpaired, ventrally located fin that lies behind the anus, usually on the posterior half of the fish.
Adipose fin: Fleshy finlike projection without rays, behind the rayed dorsal fin.
Caudal fin: The tail.
Dorsal fin: The primary rayed fin(s) on top of the body.
Gills: The organs utilized to obtain oxygen from the water.
Pectoral fins: The paired fins just behind the head.
Ventral fins: The paired fins, between the pectorals and the anal fins.

Hypostomus: Hypo = underneath; stomus = mouth.(mouth underneath).
boulengeri: In honour of George Albert Boulenger, the Belgian ichthyologist. Born in1858, he took over Guenthers position as Director of the Ichthyological Department at the British Museum during the 1880's. He died in 1937.

Photo Credits

© Enzo Edgardo Ferreyra
© Haraldo Bishop
© Muséum d’histoire naturelle, Genève.
Map: © By Kmusser - Wikipedia commons