Congo garra

Garra congoensis

Also known as Congo log sucker

FreshwaterFish

Congo garra (Garra congoensis) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 3.9 in (10 cm)
Minimum tank: 29 gal (110 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Rapids of the Congo basin
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

Keep this African garra in a small group; it is social and mostly peaceful, grazing hard surfaces on the bottom and clinging to stone in the current. Give it sturdy, active midwater tankmates that share its taste for cool, moving water. It feeds on biofilm and algae, so supplement grazing with algae wafers, spirulina and some meaty frozen foods to keep it in condition. Provide at least 110 liters with strong flow, high oxygen, smooth stones and driftwood, and neighbors gentle enough that it can feed in peace.

In the wild

The Congo garra clings to rock in the rapids and fast runs of the lower Congo River. Recreate that hard-charging torrent with strong flow, high oxygen, water-worn boulders and cobbles, and open grazing surfaces. Keep it warm at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius at pH 6.0 to 7.5, with pristine, well-filtered water and plenty of surface movement.

Good to know

Garra congoensis is a cyprinid reaching about 10 centimeters, one of relatively few African members of a genus centered in Asia. Like its Asian cousins it has a fleshy, sucker-like structure on the underside of the mouth that grips stone in fast water while it grazes. It was described from the Kinsuka rapids near Kinshasa. Its breeding in tanks is undocumented.

Did you know

The garra body plan, with its stone-gripping sucker mouth, is mostly an Asian design, yet this species carries it into Africa and into some of the fiercest freshwater rapids on the planet, the lower Congo.