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Mark Henry Sabaj (1) IvanMikolji (2)

Description: Dorsal soft rays (total): 6; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 20 - 25; Vertebrae: 44 - 46. Laterally positioned eyes, visible dorsally and ventrally; in adults, the diameter is 2.2-3.3 times into interorbital width. Inner mental barbels usually posterior to gular apex, rarely even with it, and never reaching fleshy margin of opercle. Outer mental barbels longer, extending beyond the origin of pectoral fins. Maxillary barbels variable in length, extending to pelvic fins or beyond. Pelvic fins when depressed reaching approximately halfway from anus to anal-fin origin. Habitat: Collected from both white and black waters; found in floodplain lakes, small creeks (or caños) to large rivers and tidal rivers; on sand, mud, and clay substrates associated with vegetation (e.g. tall reeds, emergent grasses, and root masses of stream-side trees). Apparently nocturnal and hide in groups along stream margins during the day. Aquarium Care: Anything large enough will fit into its mouth so you should choose tankmates carefully. Large Cichlids or Plecos would be good companions or larger Characins, but they will also co-exist with one another, so 2 or 3 individuals brought together as juveniles in a larger tank (min. 6ft x 2ft x 2ft) would also be a good choice. Diet: In the aquarium it is important to try and wean them of live food so as not too make them too dependent on it and also not forgetting the disease factor as well. They will take a variety of larger foods such as earthworms, frozen bloodworms, tablet and pellet food. You can try prawns and also frozen fish pieces such as lancefish etc. Remarks: This species along with Sorubim lima are the two most seen species in this genus. There are another three that are that bit rarer, S. trigonocephalus, S. cuspicaudus and S. maniradii.

Slender shovelnose catfish

None

Pimelodidae

South America: Essequibo, Orinoco, and Amazon basins.

30.0cm. (12ins)

23-30°C (73-87°F)

6.5-7.5.

Littmann, M. W. Systematic review of the neotropical shovelnose catfish genus Sorubim Cuvier (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) Zootaxa 1422: 1-29 (8 Mar. 2007) 14 plates; 42 references.
Littmann, M.W., B.M. Burr, R.E. Schmidt and E.R. Isern, 2001. Sorubim elongatus, a new species of catfish (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) from tropical South America syntopic with S. lima. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 12(1):1-16.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2011. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version.
ScotCat Factsheet no. 57. March 2001.