Mottled catfish: maintenance and care

In aquariums hold different kinds of catfish - blue catfish-antsstrov, ototsinklov, gold catfish, glass catfish, gold catfish, even shark catfish - but it's speckled catfish (speckled corridor) is the most common. This fish comes from South America, in nature it lives in stagnant freshwater reservoirs with dense vegetation. And in aquariums it has been kept since the end of the XIX century.

The speckled catfish has a short dense body with a convex back. His head, back and fins are pale brown and covered dark spots (thanks to which the catfish got its name), and his abdomen is pinkish-golden. Along the sides of the fish stretches a strip of frequent transverse dashes. Among these catfish there are also albinos.

On the upper lip of the catfish are two pairs of antennae, and his body is covered with overlapping and forming a kind of shell - for no reason the speckled catfish refers to the so-called armor catfish (somikam corridors, somic armpits). In length it reaches 4-6 (males) or 7 (females) centimeters. In addition, males and females differ in the shape of the dorsal fin: in females it is rounded, in males - acute, triangular in shape.

The mottled catfish is a peaceful active fish, preferring schooling (therefore less than six catfish buy nomeaning). They prefer to stay in the bottom layer of water. Speckled catfishes are quite active during the day, but the peak of their activity occurs at night. They can be kept in one aquarium with non-aggressive fish - barbs, discus, molly, guppies, tetroms, swordfish, scalyaria, dwarf cichlids, plectostomus, danio, rasbori.

TO conditions of detention speckled catfish is not exacting. He needs an aquarium with a volume of at least 90 liters and 60 cm in length. Optimum acidity of water pH 6.5-8.2, stiffness dH up to 35 ° C, temperature 20-25 ° C. But these fish are able to withstand a temperature range of 2 ° C to 35 ° C (although it is better not to test it in practice).

Speckled catfishes are very sensitive to water salinity, so you can not keep them in salted water anduse salt for the treatment of diseases. The aquarium needs to be equipped with filtration, aeration and weekly replacement of a third of the water volume. Under good conditions, a speckled catfish can live 6-10 (sometimes even 15) years.

In addition, you need to provide catfish with free access to the water surface. The fact is that these fish are capable ofcalled intestinal breathing and from time to time float to the surface in order to inhale atmospheric air. This is not a sign of sickness or bad aeration - it's just that the mottled catfish is just arranged.

As a primer is best use small pebbles or coarse sand. Along the side walls and rear walls of the aquariumIt is necessary to plant broad-leaved plants and supplement them with floating ones. For decoration you can use snags, rocks and other shelters, but keep in mind that the speckled catfish needs a sufficient place for swimming. As for lighting, it should be not bright.

A mottled catfish enjoys using vegetative, live (correter, bloodworm, tubular) and combined feeds. They need well sinking feed, because catfish prefer to stay at the bottom. They can eat up the remains of feed left by other species of fish, performing the role of peculiar "scavengers". Digging in the ground in search of food, catfish often stir up water in the aquarium.

Mottled catfish - funny and unpretentious aquarium fish, which is why it is so popular.