Green turushuki catfish

Hemidoras morrisi

Also known as Morris's doradid, Turushuki cat

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 6.3 in (16 cm)
Minimum tank: 53 gal (200 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Upper Amazon, Peru and Ecuador
Family: Doradidae

Overview

A slender, sand-sifting doradid that is far more settled in a group, so keep at least four to six together and expect them to forage as a loose shoal across the bottom. Temperament is peaceful, and it suits calm, similarly sized community fish, though tiny tankmates may be eaten at night. The key requirement is a soft sand bed it can pick through, plus gentle current and some wood for shade. Feed sinking pellets, wafers, and small frozen foods such as bloodworm and daphnia, making sure enough reaches the sand. A group fits comfortably in a tank of around 200 liters.

In the wild

Hemidoras morrisi ranges through the upper Amazon basin in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil, living over sandy and muddy river beds near submerged wood. To suit it, lay down a soft sand substrate, keep a gentle to moderate current across an open bottom, and add driftwood at the margins. Warm, soft, slightly acidic to neutral water fits best, around 23-28 C and pH 6-7.5, kept clean with routine changes.

Good to know

This thorny catfish of the family Doradidae grows to about 16 cm and is built for sifting sand, with a tapered snout and long barbels. It is closely tied to the genus Opsodoras and may be a synonym of Opsodoras boulengeri, so it turns up in the trade under more than one name. Like other doradids it has bony flank scutes and can click by grinding its pectoral spines. Aquarium spawning is not on record.

Did you know

It feeds by taking mouthfuls of sand and passing them out through the gill openings, keeping the small worms and larvae it filters from the grains, while the whole shoal works the bottom together like a line of tiny harvesters.

Tank mates

Green turushuki catfish is a peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.