Name: Chocolate Stripe Catfish
Brand: Brooklands
SKU: TG68
Price: 34.9 NZD
Availability: OutOfStock

Chocolate Stripe Catfish

Product Details

Chocolate Stripe Catfish (Platydoras armatulus)

NOT AVAILABLE FOR SHIPPING - In-store Only

Overview:

The Chocolate Stripe Catfish (widely known in the hobby as the Striped Raphael Catfish, Talking Catfish, or Chocolate Doradid) is a wonderfully unique and exceptionally hardy bottom-dweller. It features a wide, slightly flattened "tadpole" shape with solid armor plating along its flanks rather than standard scales. Its name comes from its rich, velvety dark-chocolate body, which is striking accented by bold, creamy white-to-yellow horizontal stripes running from its eyes all the way to its tail.

Origins:

They are native to the massive Amazon, Paraguay-Paraná, and lower Orinoco River basins in South America. They naturally inhabit slow-moving rivers, swamps, and flooded forest areas, where they spend daylight hours tightly wedged under submerged logs or inside rocky crevices.

Personality:

These catfish are gentle giants with an incredible defensive toolkit. They are strictly nocturnal; during the day, they will find a dark cave and completely disappear, but once the tank lights go off, they emerge as active, inquisitive scavengers. They are incredibly peaceful toward fish of a similar size, but they are bold and completely unfazed by larger, semi-aggressive tank mates because they know they are essentially built like a tiny tank.

Care Level: Very Easy
Temperament: Peaceful (but will eat tiny fish or shrimp that fit in its mouth)
Diet: Omnivore Scavenger (Sinking pellets, algae wafers, and frozen foods like bloodworms and earthworm pellets dropped in right before lights out)
Max Size: 15 – 20 cm
Family: Doradidae (Armored Catfishes)
Tank Size: 120 – 150 Litres minimum (They are chunky and need plenty of floor space)
Temperature: 22°C – 26°C
pH: 6.0 – 7.5
Should be kept in groups? They can be kept singly or in a small group. If you keep a few together, they will happily squeeze into the exact same cave during the day, stacked right on top of each other.

⚠️ Two Crucial Safety Warnings for This Species:

1. The "Talking" Ability: Members of the Doradidae family are famous for making an audible clicking, buzzing, or croaking sound when threatened or taken out of the water. They do this by rubbing their pectoral fin joints into their shoulder sockets and vibrating their swim bladder.

2. Ditch the Fish Net! Along their lateral lines, they feature a row of backward-facing, razor-sharp thorny spines, plus strong, lockable dagger spines on their pectoral and dorsal fins. Never use a mesh fish net to catch this fish. They will instinctively flare their fins, get tangled in the net, and it can be a dangerous, stressful nightmare to untangle them without hurting the fish or getting pricked. Always use a plastic container, jug, or smooth plastic bag to scoop them up instead.