Mystus Catfish,

[WOLF2013]

Well as you may know, I am planning an order from Jeff Rapps. I am looking for an active catfish to add to my tank. I would like a catfish that will swim at the bottom day and night and eat leftover food from the cichlids and big guys.
The mystus species I am looking at getting is Mystus atrifasciatus.
I was thinking about the thai bumble bee catfish but from my past experience with them, they hide constantly.
Are mystus catfish active or would I be wasting money?

 

[kno4te]

thebiggerthebetter

 

[celebrist]

I love my mystus, I see her monthly

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/mystus-singaringan.704664/

Here's my thread you can refer to, video and all. They are an active catfish if you take away his hiding places. If not, you only get to see it at night. Trust me, you're not wasting money. These guys are like asian pimelodus.

They do great in groups, but one will establish dominant, fins nipping and all but nothing serious. They are 100% scavengers IME, easily eat pellets.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Well as you may know, I am planning an order from Jeff Rapps. I am looking for an active catfish to add to my tank. I would like a catfish that will swim at the bottom day and night and eat leftover food from the cichlids and big guys.
The mystus species I am looking at getting is Mystus atrifasciatus.
I was thinking about the thai bumble bee catfish but from my past experience with them, they hide constantly.
Are mystus catfish active or would I be wasting money?

When it comes to less than common catfish and the ID is important, which appears to be the case here, I'd strongly recommend getting good pictures from most vendors, including Jeff, and posting them here, or much better on Planet Catfish, for an ID.

The Mystus genus is enormous, the ID of the young is hard, and this particular alleged species in almost never heard of in the hobby. https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1608

If / once you know the ID for sure, you can read up on the fish and know what to expect better. In general Mystus catfish are indeed quite active but, as stated above, given cover they may use it more often than not. They are also Bagriidae which are in general more boisterous with each other and other rival catfish than Pimelodidae, in this particular case comparing Mystus genus versus Pimelodus genus.

 

[WOLF2013]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/mystus-singaringan.704664/

Here's my thread you can refer to, video and all. They are an active catfish if you take away his hiding places. If not, you only get to see it at night. Trust me, you're not wasting money. These guys are like asian pimelodus.

They do great in groups, but one will establish dominant, fins nipping and all but nothing serious. They are 100% scavengers IME, easily eat pellets.

That is good to know. There are hiding places but all are occupied. I'm sure he will be quite active in my tank. Glad to hear they are scavengers, one will thrive in my tank.

When it comes to less than common catfish and the ID is important, which appears to be the case here, I'd strongly recommend getting good pictures from most vendors, including Jeff, and posting them here, or much better on Planet Catfish, for an ID.

The Mystus genus is enormous, the ID of the young is hard, and this particular alleged species in almost never heard of in the hobby. https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1608

If / once you know the ID for sure, you can read up on the fish and know what to expect better. In general Mystus catfish are indeed quite active but, as stated above, given cover they may use it more often than not. They are also Bagriidae which are in general more boisterous with each other and other rival catfish than Pimelodidae, in this particular case comparing Mystus genus versus Pimelodus genus.

I am happy to hear Mystus are the Asian version of Pimelodus. I did a research on them and too found little to nothing only a few pics. So that must mean this fish is either rare or hasn't been imported into the hobby much.
Here is a picture he provided.

 

[Aqua_Bankie]

Depends really on the what type of Mystus , i have kept three different species .

Mysticetus which was very shy and cave dwelling i had two of these at the same time very shy ,

the other was Pulcher who was active and about lights on or off , it would follow other fish not in an aggressive sense just curious great fish ,

the final one was years ago and the I.D may have not been 100% it was meant to be Vittatus and this was more like Pulcher out and about lights on or off ,

all of these cats lived with various Pim's at points of there lives ,Pictus , Blochii and Gracillis all got on well even with the Pulchers curious nature

 

[justarn]

Get a blochii or ornatus;-)

 

[Aqua_Bankie]

Oops my bad i also kept Mystus Leucophasis , this one was very different from the other three in appearance and behaviour , quite shy but became quite aggressive and very territorial ,wasn't my fav thou on the occasions you did see it , a stunning looking fish with a bar steward attitude !

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

That is good to know. There are hiding places but all are occupied. I'm sure he will be quite active in my tank. Glad to hear they are scavengers, one will thrive in my tank.


I am happy to hear Mystus are the Asian version of Pimelodus. I did a research on them and too found little to nothing only a few pics. So that must mean this fish is either rare or hasn't been imported into the hobby much.
Here is a picture he provided.

View attachment 1336621

Mystus sp actually not rare in their endemic region but it is however rarely imported & rarely kept in the hobby. Like my Mystus singaringan, if you check planet catfish, it has 0 registered keepers but where I'm from, too common to even kept in a tank. Probably one of the reasons they're not imported, attractiveness.

The only mystus that commonly imported are Mystus vittatus & Mystus bocourti. Those are the attractive ones.