Pinirampus pirinampu Grow out.

[Rpul]

I seem to have got very lucky the other day.
as a shipment arrived in the uk via awell
Known store. I was contacted about a possible Pinirampus pirinampu mixed in with a group of vulture catfish that arrived into the uk from Peru. Whilst very small fish. Around 1.5” long. It was hard to be sure on the exact I’d. with fortune being on my side, the stores manager agreed to keep it aside for me. Grow it out, so we could determine a solid ID, I was pushing toward Pinirampus pirinampu but I was also considering a jumper catfish. Being so small, it was hard to fully grasp what it would become.
fast forward a month, fish is around 3”/3.5” , whiskers are slowly starting to widen. And I can now say it is infact a Pinirampus.
I’m super excited for this one, to see how it’s developed. Plus I think this may be a first for the page. A grow out thread on the Pinirampus pirinampu. The fish is currently in a 365L grow out tank.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Well, well, well, look who is back and in fashion!!!! Lovely, so lovely to see you back in the game Rpul!!!!

It'd be a first for me too if this is truly a P. p. I am looking at Aqua Imports (Mike, Colorado) who claims to be selling P. p. too. I think of snagging 3 but there seems only 1 left at $45. Cannot see the flattened barbels on the photo. Otherwise looks close but I was burnt several times before by lookalikes such as "jumper catfish".

Does this one look P.p. to you? IDK the size of one in the photo. The one for sale is ~3 inch.

PlanetCatfish.com - Pinirampus pirinampu (Pimelodidae) Cat-eLog

Images are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

www.planetcatfish.com

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

My ID thread on the PCF: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=52593

 

[Fishman Dave]

Mmmm will be interested to hear what pc think. To me the head shape and dorsal fin size say exallodontus

 

[Rpul]

Well, well, well, look who is back and in fashion!!!! Lovely, so lovely to see you back in the game Rpul!!!!

It'd be a first for me too if this is truly a P. p. I am looking at Aqua Imports (Mike, Colorado) who claims to be selling P. p. too. I think of snagging 3 but there seems only 1 left at $45. Cannot see the flattened barbels on the photo. Otherwise looks close but I was burnt several times before by lookalikes such as "jumper catfish".

Does this one look P.p. to you? IDK the size of one in the photo. The one for sale is ~3 inch.

PlanetCatfish.com - Pinirampus pirinampu (Pimelodidae) Cat-eLog

Images are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

www.planetcatfish.com

View attachment 1547026

Hi Vicktor,
It’s hard to say from that picture for sure.
but I’m leaning towards not p. Piriampus, reason being, the two juveniles I’ve seen with my own eyes, have serval grey/black bars f along the body of the fish. I shall attach pictures of what I mean.
I think if you could aquire a few more pictures in different angles, you’ll be able to get a more positive Id. Also, at the size this one looks, the start of change in the whiskers flattening should be present. Although, with that being said, catch location , unknown genus ect could all play a part.

Im not saying it’s 100% not, but can’t confirm it is either. More pictures would suffice.

I’ve also noticed, these fish sit very much like a slobbering catfish & jurense, they seem to enjoy the flow, waiting in ambush for food to touch the whiskers.
It’s also against anyone getting in his space and will chase anything off. Fortunately there is no biting or nipping happening whilst this is going on.

 

[Rpul]

Starting to fill out.
Very unusual behaviours for a catfish.
ill share my findings at later date.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I see what you mean by thin faint vertical lines.

P. p. is native to a huge part of SA across many countries. It's strange that we don't see it in the hobby. Jools from the PCF also thinks the photo from Aquaimports depicts an Exallodontus or some such.

It will be very interesting to see what your cat turns out to be.

 

[Rpul]

It is strange we don’t see more. There is no restrictions on them either.
funnily enough, I had this exact conversation with Richard Hardwick. We put it down to most people don’t know what they’re in the hobby, they’re a plain looking fish/ not the prettiest fish. But for a catfish fanatic, they Have it all!

I’m still 100% myself and Richard ID the fish as PP.

Here are some updated pictures. Must be around 6” or so now.

hopefully next month I can put him into the 360g with the shoal of big Mylossoma, providing he gets enough food in there.
It’s not a very active hunter, very much a lazy scavenger.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I posed more questions in my PCF thread: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=341796#p341796

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I think I agree with you and Jools that this is indeed a Pinirampus. My latest post in the PCF thread:

Thank you so much Jools. I've stared at these photos vs Pinirampus and vs Exallodontus and I agree with you:

1. Exallodontus adipose is a tiny bit taller and asymmetric and almost has a semi-sharp point closer to the dorsal while Pinirampus' adipose looks symmetric, low, without any defined points.
2. Exallodontus dorsal is a bit shorter vs. Pinirampus.
3. Pinirampus tail looks oversized vs the head size, which doesn't look like it for Exallodontus.
4. Pinirampus has faint spotted vertical lines on the body which are absent in Exallodontus.

AquaImport's fish and Rpul's fish match Pinirampus in these 4 traits.

Megalonema genus cats don't match the fish in question. For one their adipose fins are vastly different.