Indian linear catfish

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a slim, eel-like catfish, around 12 centimeters long, that hunts through leaf litter and crevices on the bottom. It is peaceful toward other species but strongly territorial with its own kind, so keep just one to a tank unless you can offer a very large setup with many separate hiding places. It mixes fine with larger, active community fish such as bigger danios and barbs, though small fish may be eaten. Fill the tank with wood, stones, and leaf litter so it has cracks to slip into. Feed sinking foods, frozen bloodworm, and small live foods in the evening. A tank of around 110 liters with cool, flowing water suits a single fish.

In the wild

It comes from cool, clear streams at the base of the Himalayan foothills, from Darjeeling and Assam in India east into Myanmar, living among stones and leaf litter in flowing water. Recreate that with a fine substrate, plenty of rounded stones and wood, drifts of leaf litter, and a moderate current. Keep the water on the cool side at 20 to 26 C and soft to neutral, around pH 6.0 to 7.5. Good oxygenation and lots of small crevices matter most.

Good to know

Olyra longicaudata is a slender bagrid catfish, family Bagridae, described by McClelland in 1842. It reaches about 12 centimeters, most of it a long, eel-like body ending in a drawn-out tail, which its name, longicaudata, or long-tailed, describes. It shelters in crevices and leaf litter and is nocturnal. Breeding is not documented in the aquarium, and males are known to be aggressive toward one another.

Did you know

The trade sometimes calls it a fighting catfish, and with reason: it is peaceful with other fish but so territorial toward its own kind that two males will scrap over a favored crevice.

Common questions

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