Grosvenor Tropicals

Grosvenor Tropicals fully supports the OATA's policy on the humane treatment of livestock offered for sale. We reserve the right to refuse any sale where we believe that the customer is unable to provide a suitable environment for care of that species. It is also our policy NOT to supply Goldfish to Stallholders, Traders or Organisations seeking to offer them for sale or as prizes at Fairs or Fetes etc.

Catfish

Often grouped together with the Loaches, and indeed displaying some similar characteristics', many aquarists get the impression that Catfish and Loaches are very closely related. However this is not the case, in fact both groups are more closely related to their common cousins, the Carp, than they are to each other.

So, lets start with the catfish.! What is a Catfish? Generally Catfish are bottom dwellers who forage in the bottom detritus for their diet of worms, crustaceans and decaying plant and animal matter. There are more than 2200 species in 31 family groups ranging in size and temperament from gentle miniatures only a few millimetres long to veracious predators over 3 metres and several hundred Kilos, more likely to eat the fisherman than the other way around and not the sort of pet to keep at home.

Despite this tremendous diversity in size, shape and temperament, Catfish do share some common characteristics which define them as such. Catfish have between 1 - 4 pairs (usually 4) of highly sensitive whiskers known as barbels, each equipped with numerous "taste buds" to aid the Catfish in its search for food. In some species, such as the 'Pictus Cats', these can be longer than the fishes entire body.

All Catfish lack scales. Many are protected by armour plating in the form of tough overlapping dermal plates while others have a smooth silky skin covering their entire body. Catfish are also characterised by having 3 venomous spines as the leading ray in the Dorsal and each of the Pectoral fins. In many species this venom is so weak as to go almost un-noticed, but in others it can cause quite a painful wound, something to be wary off when handling Catfish in the aquarium.

Last, but not least, unlike their cousins the Carp, Catfish have teeth. What's more, they are prepared to use them. In the aquarium this explains some of those mysterious disappearances, but in the wild it takes on a whole perspective. Many species in the wild get to a considerable size and in some parts of Asia such as the Mekong River system and the Yellow River in China, it is believed that each year numerous fishermen fall victim to giant killer Catfish.

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