Butterfly hara catfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The butterfly hara catfish is the classic moth cat of the trade, cryptic and still by day and slowly active after dark, harmless to anything it cannot swallow. It is peaceful and does best in a small group of its own kind, kept with calm, similarly sized fish that will not bully it or race it to the food. Feed sinking foods once the lights are off, such as frozen bloodworm, daphnia, baby brine shrimp and sinking catfish pellets, and make sure enough reaches the bottom. Give it a quiet, mature tank of at least 54 liters with soft sand, driftwood and leaf litter for cover.

In the wild

It lives on the beds of slow to gently flowing waters in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins of northern India and neighbouring countries, among sand, silt and leaf litter. Recreate that with a soft sand bottom to protect its barbels, botanicals and driftwood for shade, and steady but gentle, well oxygenated flow. Keep the water soft to medium and close to neutral, about pH 6.0 to 7.5, at 20 to 26 C.

Good to know

Hara hara belongs to the family Erethistidae, the moth catfishes, and reaches around 8 cm, large for the genus. Seen from above, its broad, wing-like pectoral fins and flattened body give the whole group its moth name. It rests by day and forages slowly at night. Breeding is not recorded in home aquaria, so it is kept as an oddball rather than bred.

Did you know

Its name is a rare echo. Hara hara is a tautonym, a binomial where the genus and species names are spelled exactly the same, a quirk that zoology allows but botany forbids.

Tank mates

Butterfly hara catfish is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.

• Manipur barb

  Pethia manipurensis

  Freshwater

  1.8 in (4.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Amiet's lyretail

  Fundulopanchax amieti

  Freshwater

  2.8 in (7 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Tweedie's hillstream loach

  Homalopteroides tweediei

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)14 gal (54 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)
• Delta killifish

  Fundulopanchax deltaensis

  Freshwater

  3.1 in (8 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Singa panchax

  Epiplatys singa

  Freshwater

  2.4 in (6 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Butterfly moth catfish

  Erethistes pusillus

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• Elongate moth catfish

  Hara horai

  Freshwater

  3.1 in (8 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Filament moth catfish

  Hara filamentosa

  Freshwater

  2.4 in (6 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Burmese mini moth catfish

  Hara minuscula

  Freshwater

  1.2 in (3 cm)11 gal (40 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Butterfly moth catfish

  Erethistes pusillus

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Harlequin moth catfish

  Pseudolaguvia ribeiroi

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)11 gal (40 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Cheetah moth catfish

  Pseudolaguvia shawi

  Freshwater

  1.5 in (3.8 cm)11 gal (40 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)