Striped Raphael Catfish
 

Striped Raphael Catfish



Platydoras costatus

anyone have any experience with these?

i feel like the fish profile is rather vague.

schooling? Solitary?

How big do they get?

Have kept both the striped Raphael and the spotted Raphael.
As mentioned,,they are nocturnal, and are seldom seen during the day if proper hiding/resting spots are available.(caves,wood,etc)
Solitary would be good description for these fish prefer to keep to themselves, but I wonder if a shoal of these in large enough tank, with smooth riverstones ,sand substrate,and large pieces of driftwoood with some leaf litter along the bottom wouldn't be an interesting scene?
Perhaps in a group, they would be out and about more often?
The two species (spotted,striped) I have kept,grow /grew,, to around five inches from two inches inside a year.
They will eat most anything but Chopped Frozen Krill, and Earthworms were favorites.
A good carnivore pellet food or bottom feeder food would be good too.
Would not expect to see a lot of this fish, and would not expect to see many smaller fish in the tank as this species matures.

Neon Tetras i have already probably go bye bye?

These fish are very active at night, and could slip up on smaller fish while they are resting.
I have a light that I wear on ball cap while fishing at night, and this light has red Led bulb as well as a couple white bulbs.
The red bulb does not seem to spook the fishes and I sometimes use this light (hand held) to view the fishes at night cory's,plecos for this is when they are most active.
the raphael's I kept were all over the tank,up and down the glass,exploring floating plant's, in search of I suppose, anything they could eat.
I really liked them, so I placed them with larger clown loaches and plecos to lessen chances of them eating smaller fishes.

If you ever have to catch them I recommend using a rigid container of some sort and not a net. Their lateral spines mix poorly with nets.

These are very peaceful fish also called the talking catfish min tank size is 30 gals they will fit nicely into a community tank. When you net them which is not a good idea they make noises hence talking catfish. They eat anything but a balanced diet should be fed. I found they do like to have others around if you have 2 or 3 they will all bunch up and lay on each other . They like to burrow in mud or sand and there should be wood or caves in the tank. Live span is around 9 years .Temp should be 70 to 78 .Max size 8 ins

Santaclaws, I love your avatar. lol:-D

what kind of fish is in yours its very cool looking:-D