Dwarf warty catfish

Parakysis notialis

Also known as Singapore tiny warty cat

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 5.0–6.8
Adult size: 1 in (2.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Peat swamps of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula
Family: Akysidae

Overview

The dwarf warty catfish is a thumbnail-sized blackwater species for a quiet, soft-water nano tank. It is peaceful and does not need company of its own kind, so it can be kept singly or as a pair without fuss, though it is shy and easily lost among busier fish. Keep it only with small, calm, soft-water tankmates, and give it leaf litter and fine sand to creep through. Feed tiny sinking foods after dark: microworm, baby brine shrimp, frozen cyclops, and crushed sinking pellets. A gently filtered tank of around 40 liters with tannin-stained water and plenty of cover suits it.

In the wild

Parakysis notialis lives in peat swamp forests of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, in shaded, tea-colored blackwater that is very soft and acidic, flowing slowly over leaf litter and submerged roots. Recreate that with a dimly lit tank, soft acidic water, botanicals and dried leaves, and fine dark sand. Keep it warm, about 23 to 28 C, at a low pH of roughly 5.0 to 6.8, using peat or leaf litter to hold the water soft.

Good to know

Parakysis notialis is a member of the stream catfish family Akysidae and one of the smallest of them, reaching only about 2.5 centimeters, with skin covered in fine warty tubercles that give it its common name and help it vanish against leaf litter. It was described in 2003, and its species name, notialis, means southern, marking it as the southern member of the genus. Its aquarium breeding is not recorded.

Did you know

Much of this catfish's peat swamp home has been drained and cleared, and in Singapore it survives mainly in a small protected remnant of freshwater swamp forest, so keeping one well is a quiet nod to a vanishing habitat.