Striped Raphael AKA Talking Catfish (Platydoras armatulus), Captive-Bred!
- In stock, ready to ship
- Backordered, shipping soon
The Striped Raphael Catfish is a longtime favorite for the freshwater aquarium, and we have rare tank-bred specimens!
The Striped Raphael Catfish (Platydoras armatulus, formerly P. costatus) is a medium sized catfish species from the Orinico and Amazon River basins as well as many other waterways throughout much of South America. It has been a very popular aquarium fish for many years due to its hardiness, generally peaceful nature, and attractive markings. It grows too large for the nano aquarium, but is an excellent candidate for the medium or large aquarium, especially Amazon-type setups with cichlids or tetras. This species is also known as the Striped Talking Catfish due to its ability to "croak" when removed from the water. It is a doradid (family Doradidae) catfish whose closest relatives are Wood and Banjo catfish families.
The Striped Raphael Catfish is a somewhat gregarious species, although it is also fine as a single specimen in an aquarium. It is somewhat reclusive and definitely requires ample hiding places in the form of driftwood, pipes, or other crevices. Multiple specimens will sometimes wedge into the same refuge. This fish is not particularly territorial or aggressive, but like most catfish, it will prey on anything small enough to fit in its mouth, such as tiny fish, dwarf shrimp, and fry. It will not bother plants. It is not particularly sensitive, but it prefers fairly calm to moderate water flow. Like many scaleless fish, it will deteriorate from poor water quality and maintenance.
Feeding is very simple for the Striped Raphael Catfish. In the wild, it mainly feeds on small crustaceans and other invertebrates. In the aquarium, it will accept most live, frozen, and dry meaty foods, although some vegetable matter (such as spirulina-rich dry foods) is recommended as well. It is a voracious eater, so care should be taken not to overfeed. Inserting food near the fish's hiding place is very effective, although it will typically learn to come out of hiding with enthusiasm when food is available.
- Beautiful black and white markings
- Completely peaceful with anything to large to be considered prey
- Excellent scavenger
- Will not bother plants
- Rare tank-bred specimens
- Temperature: 76° - 86° F (24° - 30° C)
- pH: 5.8 - 7.5
- KH: 2 - 20 dKH
- Minimum tank size: 55 gallons for an individual or small group
- Diet: Omnivorous. Will accept most dry, frozen, and live meaty foods
- Social behavior: Peaceful, nocturnal, somewhat gregarious
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Origin: Tank-Bred, but indigenous throughout much of South America
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Average adult size: Up to 9.6 inches (24 cm), although 6 inches (15 cm) is much more likely in the aquarium
- Average purchase size: 1 - 1.5 inches (2.5 - 3.8 cm)
For the safety of our animals, we only ship live fish, crabs, and select other inverts exclusively via UPS 1 Day Air. If your order contains this item, you will only see UPS 1 Day Air as a shipping option during checkout. If other items are in your cart that can ship with 2 day or standard shipping options the only shipping method you can still select is UPS 1 Day Air.
UPS 1 Day is a description of the duration of time a shipment will spend in transit once it has been shipped. This does not guarantee the package will be shipped the same or next day from which the order was placed.
Shipping Schedule for this service
Current Handling Time:
1-9 business days
Here at Aquatic Arts, we consider the welfare of the live animals we are shipping to be of the foremost importance. This process is much more involved than simply creating a shipping label and affixing it to a box. Depending on the order, it takes from 4 to 7 people to complete this process properly. We check the weather conditions here where they fly out of the Indianapolis UPS facility and the destination for each shipment. We start early each morning and go through a multi-step process to have the day's shipments prepared in time for the UPS pickup. The volume of orders in our system also affects the processing time. Therefore our stated handling time is 1-9 business days.
Shipping Rate
Pricing is by size of package needed to fill entire order and distance it must travel. It will be calculated at checkout.