When you look at Catfish you find endless people collecting Tiger Shovel Nose, Red Tail Catfish, Hybrids of the two, Iridescent sharks, etc. Albeit beautiful catfish in their own right we still see a very limited range of larger Catfish species in the hobby outside of the few I listed & a few others. I feel like Brachyplatystoma are a mid-ground in Catfish keeping, they aren't as common as Red Tail Catfish but they aren't as rare as the likes of the Tangtze River Catfish or even the Lince Catfish (another one on my list!)
My 3 favourite of the Brachyplatystoma family has to be B. Tigrinum, B. Juruense & B. Rousseauxii - all 3 of which I have now got in my collection.
Firstly we start with my Tigrinus. I acquired him/ her in March 2020 at roughly 11-12inches, come March 2021 he/she measured approx 18inches. I previously owned 2 Tigrinus catfish, however, two do not work well together at all & especially at juvenile size was just constant stress/ fights between the two. I decided to separate them & sold one to a friend, the other one I kept myself. I sadly lost the one I kept a few weeks later during a 12+ hour power outage overnight & into the day, so it was a clean slate fresh start. I feed my Tigrinus currently on a mix of Sturgeon pellets, Carnivore Pellets & a few other pellets mixed into his diet & I hold back on seafood as much as possible, although being the tank mates he lives with he does still get the occasional bits of seafood.
Pictures of the Tigrinus:
Towards the end of 2020 the UK received a few Dorado Catfish (B. Rousseauxii) from Europe, which I believe originated from NA imports from South America (quite the journey if so). I decided I would pick one of these up despite hearing & seeing many horror stories of bent noses, spontaneous death, etc. The first individual I purchased was approx 1.5-2inches and he got off to a good start, eating within 24hrs, however, I stupidly added tank mates which led to stress & a quite quick decline in its health, resulting in loosing the original Dorado Catfish a few weeks after his arrival. I decided that this wouldn't stop me, I decided I would give it another go. I set-up a pass-through system off my 220G tank, in which water flows from the above tank sump into a tote & overflows out the other end. This way I can keep the new one alone & in a large water volume which is great for stability of water parameters & also likely contributes to slightly faster growth than a smaller tank standing alone. He started off on Bloodworms, now I have got him eating Hikari Carnivore pellets.
Pictures of the Dorado:
That's it! I had 2 of the 3, my hunt was next for a B. Juruense. A seller in the UK did a South American import containing 5 Juruense, time to get one surely...? Well, 2 were dead on arrival sadly, regardless I placed my reservation on this specific Juruense, I was ready. The seller often doesn't ship fish out with postal services & chooses to group a load of deliveries by location & do them in 1 day, which I was fine with waiting, I cannot complain at some free meals & a bit of extra growth for the same price, along with further quarantine... however, I woke up one morning to find out that specific specimen had passed away overnight at his facility, the remaining 2 Juruense were also very weak as he had struggled to get them eating. I mentioned I would still be interested in either of the 2 if they made it, as all were stunning examples of the Flash Juruense pattern. Sadly they all died. The seasons coming to an end & I thought that was the end of the road for this years hope of owning a Juruense... until a friend of mine who does imports messaged me to inform me he had some special fish coming, one of which he knew I wanted. 3 Juruense! Although after the last experience my hopes weren't the highest, this was my last shot. My friend successfully landed all 3 Juruense, got them eating and now I have one, sadly not a Flash, but a Juruense nonetheless!
Pictures of the Juruense:
I will be keeping him behind this divider with an Ocellaris Sp Brokopondo who was bullied until he is smashing food & slightly larger.
Where do I go now?
I've always loved Brachyplatystoma & the Lince Catfish, along with many others although I can't own them all. If I ever purchase another Brachyplatystoma it will 100% be the B. Platynemum. We hardly ever see any large/ adult specimens in the hobby & I've heard multiple reasons for struggling; mostly along the lines of not eating, stress, diet, etc. I would like the challenge, but for now, I am contempt with the 3 Brachys. One day I hope I can say I have acquired a Lince Catfish too, there are actually 2 local to me for sale now, but no I won't start that venture... just yet.
My 3 favourite of the Brachyplatystoma family has to be B. Tigrinum, B. Juruense & B. Rousseauxii - all 3 of which I have now got in my collection.
Firstly we start with my Tigrinus. I acquired him/ her in March 2020 at roughly 11-12inches, come March 2021 he/she measured approx 18inches. I previously owned 2 Tigrinus catfish, however, two do not work well together at all & especially at juvenile size was just constant stress/ fights between the two. I decided to separate them & sold one to a friend, the other one I kept myself. I sadly lost the one I kept a few weeks later during a 12+ hour power outage overnight & into the day, so it was a clean slate fresh start. I feed my Tigrinus currently on a mix of Sturgeon pellets, Carnivore Pellets & a few other pellets mixed into his diet & I hold back on seafood as much as possible, although being the tank mates he lives with he does still get the occasional bits of seafood.
Pictures of the Tigrinus:
Towards the end of 2020 the UK received a few Dorado Catfish (B. Rousseauxii) from Europe, which I believe originated from NA imports from South America (quite the journey if so). I decided I would pick one of these up despite hearing & seeing many horror stories of bent noses, spontaneous death, etc. The first individual I purchased was approx 1.5-2inches and he got off to a good start, eating within 24hrs, however, I stupidly added tank mates which led to stress & a quite quick decline in its health, resulting in loosing the original Dorado Catfish a few weeks after his arrival. I decided that this wouldn't stop me, I decided I would give it another go. I set-up a pass-through system off my 220G tank, in which water flows from the above tank sump into a tote & overflows out the other end. This way I can keep the new one alone & in a large water volume which is great for stability of water parameters & also likely contributes to slightly faster growth than a smaller tank standing alone. He started off on Bloodworms, now I have got him eating Hikari Carnivore pellets.
Pictures of the Dorado:
That's it! I had 2 of the 3, my hunt was next for a B. Juruense. A seller in the UK did a South American import containing 5 Juruense, time to get one surely...? Well, 2 were dead on arrival sadly, regardless I placed my reservation on this specific Juruense, I was ready. The seller often doesn't ship fish out with postal services & chooses to group a load of deliveries by location & do them in 1 day, which I was fine with waiting, I cannot complain at some free meals & a bit of extra growth for the same price, along with further quarantine... however, I woke up one morning to find out that specific specimen had passed away overnight at his facility, the remaining 2 Juruense were also very weak as he had struggled to get them eating. I mentioned I would still be interested in either of the 2 if they made it, as all were stunning examples of the Flash Juruense pattern. Sadly they all died. The seasons coming to an end & I thought that was the end of the road for this years hope of owning a Juruense... until a friend of mine who does imports messaged me to inform me he had some special fish coming, one of which he knew I wanted. 3 Juruense! Although after the last experience my hopes weren't the highest, this was my last shot. My friend successfully landed all 3 Juruense, got them eating and now I have one, sadly not a Flash, but a Juruense nonetheless!
Pictures of the Juruense:
I will be keeping him behind this divider with an Ocellaris Sp Brokopondo who was bullied until he is smashing food & slightly larger.
Where do I go now?
I've always loved Brachyplatystoma & the Lince Catfish, along with many others although I can't own them all. If I ever purchase another Brachyplatystoma it will 100% be the B. Platynemum. We hardly ever see any large/ adult specimens in the hobby & I've heard multiple reasons for struggling; mostly along the lines of not eating, stress, diet, etc. I would like the challenge, but for now, I am contempt with the 3 Brachys. One day I hope I can say I have acquired a Lince Catfish too, there are actually 2 local to me for sale now, but no I won't start that venture... just yet.
Last edited:
