Striped Raphael Catfish

The striped raphael catfish (Platydoras armatulus) is a South American thorny catfish from the Amazon and Orinoco basins. The body is dark chocolate to black with three bold cream stripes running head to tail, and the flanks carry a row of hard, backward-pointing bony plates. Those plates are the reason it should never be caught in a net: it locks its pectoral spines out and becomes hopelessly tangled. Use a container instead. It also produces an audible croak when handled.

Aquarium care

• Nocturnal and hides through the day. Provide caves, pipes and wood.
• Grows well beyond community size, so plan for a large adult.
• Peaceful with fish too big to eat, but it will swallow small ones.
• Wants a soft substrate it can root through.
• Omnivorous and greedy: sinking pellets, wafers, frozen bloodworm and chopped prawn.
• Move it in a jug or container, never a net.

Suits a large community with medium to big tankmates such as severums, larger barbs and silver dollars. Tetras, guppies and shrimp are not safe with an adult.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is sold for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. See the current catfish list.