Brachyrhamdia
meesi Sands & Black, 1985
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his
is the first Factsheet of a new year (2006) and it marks a significant
milestone in the history of ScotCat as we are now entering into
the ninth year of bringing the latest information to you on anything
that is remotely connected to the wonderful world of the Catfish.
I go back to the early eighties when I first
started to take a keen interest in Catfish and in these days there
was a great interest here in the U.K. in the first of Dave Sands
books "Catfishes of the World" Vol. 1 which was published
in 1983. The third volume (1984) concentrated on the Auchenipteridae
and Pimelodidae families and it is this edition that took my interest
in the then new finds of the new genes, Brachyrhamdia.
There was a difference of opinion on whether the first species
identified, B. imitator, was indeed a Pimelodella,
Pimelodella imitator. A paper written in 1986 by John
Lundberg and Lucinda McDade on this catfish stated that "‘Pimelodella
and Brachyrhamdia differ in the former having the posterior
cranial fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the supraoccipital
whereas it closes to two small foramina in the latter (updated
S.Grant, March 2010). They do also state that Brachyrhamdia
is a deeper bodied fish than the Pimelodella genus.
The Brachyrhamdia genus was thought
to be monotypic (one species) until 1985 when Barry Black and
David Sands identified two more species in B. marthae and
B.meesi.
There are as of date (updated March 2010), 5 species of Brachyrhamdia,
B.heteropleura, B.imitator, B.rambarrani,
B.
marthae. and this months subject Brachyrhamdia
meesi. These catfish have now been removed from their close
relatives the Pimelodidae family and are now placed in a new
family, Heptapteridae.l
The Brachyrhamdia species tend to be "mimics"
of Corydoras species and shoal with them. This is known
as Batesian mimicry (Sands 1990) and they share colour patterns
and eye masks of very many Corydoras species. They
steal substrate food from the Corydoras and are protected
in the larger shoal from large predators.
They are like most pims, terrritorial with their own kind, and
as such it is advisable if keeping more than one that it will
need to be over two so that the aggression is spread and diluted
through a small group.
Hiding places such as pipework/rocks/slates is a good idea to
keep them confident in their own surroundings. Water quality
would need to be bright with either internal or external power
filters for water movement and with water hardness as low as
possible.
Acknowledgment : Steve
Grant for extra information.
Deep pim-like body. Three pairs of barbels.
Posterior cranial fontanelle wide open from the frontals to the
supraoccipital.
Salmon/pink body colour with three lines
from the end of dorsal insertion to the caudal peduncle. There
are two lighter bands with a darker line in between. Dark band
at caudal peduncle. Dark mask over eyes and top of head starting
at the beginning of dorsal insertion and carrying on down to midway
between pectoral and ventral fins. Dusky tips to adipose fin and
dorsal first spine..
Not to be trusted with smaller inmates such
as smaller tetras and fry but will do fine with larger Barbs erc.
May nip Corydoras species when feeding, so you will need
to keep an eye out for this behaviour.
| Sexing |
There are no known external
sexual differences.
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| Breeding |
As yet unknown.
Readily accepts all manner of prepared foods.
Catfish pellets and tablets and are particularly fond of frozen
bloodworm and other "wormlike" foods.
| Etymology |
Brachyrhamdia:
Brachy = short; rhamdia = from the vernucular name
'Nhamdiá or 'Jamdiá.
meesi : In honour of Dr.G. Mees
of the Leiden Natural History Museum, Germany.
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| Reference |
Sands, David;
Catfishes of the World Vol.3: Auchenipteridae & Pimelodidae
Sands, David; Practical Fishkeeping, Look-Lively
Lookalikes, p12-15 (no date)
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| Photo
Credits |
Allan James @
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| Synonyms:
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| Pimelodella meesi |
| Common
Name: |
| Mees' pimelodid |
| Family: |
| Heptapteridae |
| Subfamily: |
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| Distribution: |
| Amazon River basin: Near
Belem, Brazil |
| Size: |
| 8cm. (3¼ins) |
| Temp: |
| 24-26°C
(75-79°F) |
| pH.: |
| 6.5-7.2. |
| Donation: |
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