The Striped Raphael Catfish or Chocolate Catfish has been a favorite of aquarium enthusiasts for a long time. They are very peaceful and thought to be the nicest of the Thorny Catfish!
Greg Dorney - 2009-09-07 I have had one of these guys nearly a year now. He's living with two Oscars, a 14 inch silver arowana and some others, and they get along great! I researched this guy when I got him and heard loads of reports of people not seeing their guy for months, or coming out only in the dark, or even appearing dead! But my guy must be the exception to the rule, he's constantly out in the open even though he has ton's of caves and hideouts. He likes the company of other fish and seems to enjoy the company of a huge albino african clawed frog I have in particular! As far as foods concerned, this fish is an underwater hoover! Be careful not to overfeed, and be sure to give them a day off the food weekly, or you'll see him getting very fat indeed! Mine is about 6 inches now and growing fast! Anything you put into the tank that gets near the bottom will be eaten, but a variety of high quality protein foods is the way to go if you want him to thrive. I love this fish, so much so I got another three for company for my guy today! You may or may not see this guy very often, but it's definitely worth it when you do :)
Paige,Tina,Tim, and Tyler - 2009-03-07 We have had our catfish for about a month! He just sits on the bottom and doesn't move very much unless he's moving to the other side of our 40gallon tank. We never really see him eating, and he always clings to the big rocks we have in the tank!
Miquel - 2009-03-07 I have two striped raphael catfish. Have had them for almost seven years. Most memorial snipet about them was two years ago. I thought they were MIA until I completely removed everything in the tank to move to a new house. Wow, they had been hidden under a rock formation I made for that purpose. They had grown something larger than I would have expected (i.e. 5 inches). To enjoy them more I've lighten up on having too many large rocks.
vars - 2009-02-24 hi! I have 2 raphael catfish, and it's my favorite! it's starting to grow! As you all said, I thought it was dead for a couple of times, so when I tried to take him out of the fish tank it started swimming. Also, my one of them went though a bad disease that killed a few of my fish, :( First they all started getting white dots but I really didnt put attention to that, days after that one by one started dying except this raphael. The little guy was full of white dots! I was so worried I put alot of stuff that they gave me in the store. After a few days the fish that survived were doing better and I was scared of this raphael to be dead. But when I looked at him all those white spots disappeared!! and it's still living!
Well, I just wanna say that if you start watching your fish scratching against rocks and getting white spots, go to the store really fast and buy super itch right away or your fish will start to die. So watch you fish!
jim - 2008-09-17 I just found this site looking for info on my raphael cat. I have had my cat since 1992. When I moved him to a new tank he made a barking like sound. He's been in my 56 gal tank for ten years know. We call him rapy. He will eat anything that goes to the bottom of the tank and he loves algae discs, shrimp pellets, and beefheart. He's 8 inches long and 2 inches wide. He has out lived all of my other fish.
Adam - 2008-05-24 I have 2 very fat 4 inch Raphaels in my tank. I've had them for about 2 months along with 2 Hoplos, 5 Arulius barbs, 2 Golden Wonder Killifish, 1 Angel, 1 Blind Cave Tetra, 1 reg. Pleco and 1 Bristlenose Pleco. My Hoplos died yesterday, both of them. One had half of its face either eaten away or cut away and the other just had half its tail fin missing, but still died. I don't know if the Raphaels were the culprits or the Barbs. I do know that it wasn't a disease, it happened in a 24 hour timeframe. Wonder if anyone had any input.
niel young - 2008-05-03 I have two chocolate talkers, one (4") is very active and explores every inch of the tank. However the other(6 1/2") does nothing! I only see it when I'm doing water changes, loves small fish though!
Rachelle - 2008-05-01 I have had my stripped raphael catfish for about nine months now and I love this fish! He can be shy, he hides most of the day as he is nocturnal. I think that it took him awhile to get used to us but he comes out at night even people are around now. I don't think that he likes the aquarium light though. He gets along fine with other fish, he seems to look a lot more hard core than he is. He is also the only fish out of a handful of fish that has survived my very aggressive blue gourami. He's so fun to watch, he often goes from still and almost lifeless to crazily swimming all over the tank. He is growing is starting to have a really cute fat little belly too.
The Striped Raphael Catfish or Chocolate Catfish has been a favorite of aquarium enthusiasts for a long time. They are very peaceful and thought to be the nicest of the Thorny Catfish!
I bought my Striped Raphael Catfish in November of 1991 and it is still living!
I have had one of these guys nearly a year now. He's living with two Oscars, a 14 inch silver arowana and some others, and they get along great! I researched this guy when I got him and heard loads of reports of people not seeing their guy for months, or coming out only in the dark, or even appearing dead! But my guy must be the exception to the rule, he's constantly out in the open even though he has ton's of caves and hideouts. He likes the company of other fish and seems to enjoy the company of a huge albino african clawed frog I have in particular! As far as foods concerned, this fish is an underwater hoover! Be careful not to overfeed, and be sure to give them a day off the food weekly, or you'll see him getting very fat indeed! Mine is about 6 inches now and growing fast! Anything you put into the tank that gets near the bottom will be eaten, but a variety of high quality protein foods is the way to go if you want him to thrive. I love this fish, so much so I got another three for company for my guy today! You may or may not see this guy very often, but it's definitely worth it when you do :)
We have had our catfish for about a month! He just sits on the bottom and doesn't move very much unless he's moving to the other side of our 40gallon tank. We never really see him eating, and he always clings to the big rocks we have in the tank!
I have two striped raphael catfish. Have had them for almost seven years. Most memorial snipet about them was two years ago. I thought they were MIA until I completely removed everything in the tank to move to a new house. Wow, they had been hidden under a rock formation I made for that purpose. They had grown something larger than I would have expected (i.e. 5 inches). To enjoy them more I've lighten up on having too many large rocks.
hi! I have 2 raphael catfish, and it's my favorite! it's starting to grow! As you all said, I thought it was dead for a couple of times, so when I tried to take him out of the fish tank it started swimming. Also, my one of them went though a bad disease that killed a few of my fish, :( First they all started getting white dots but I really didnt put attention to that, days after that one by one started dying except this raphael. The little guy was full of white dots! I was so worried I put alot of stuff that they gave me in the store. After a few days the fish that survived were doing better and I was scared of this raphael to be dead. But when I looked at him all those white spots disappeared!! and it's still living!
Well, I just wanna say that if you start watching your fish scratching against rocks and getting white spots, go to the store really fast and buy super itch right away or your fish will start to die. So watch you fish!
I had my catfish for three years and my eletric went out and it going to die
I just found this site looking for info on my raphael cat. I have had my cat since 1992. When I moved him to a new tank he made a barking like sound. He's been in my 56 gal tank for ten years know. We call him rapy. He will eat anything that goes to the bottom of the tank and he loves algae discs, shrimp pellets, and beefheart. He's 8 inches long and 2 inches wide. He has out lived all of my other fish.
I have 2 very fat 4 inch Raphaels in my tank. I've had them for about 2 months along with 2 Hoplos, 5 Arulius barbs, 2 Golden Wonder Killifish, 1 Angel, 1 Blind Cave Tetra, 1 reg. Pleco and 1 Bristlenose Pleco. My Hoplos died yesterday, both of them. One had half of its face either eaten away or cut away and the other just had half its tail fin missing, but still died. I don't know if the Raphaels were the culprits or the Barbs. I do know that it wasn't a disease, it happened in a 24 hour timeframe. Wonder if anyone had any input.
I have two chocolate talkers, one (4") is very active and explores every inch of the tank. However the other(6 1/2") does nothing! I only see it when I'm doing water changes, loves small fish though!
I have had my stripped raphael catfish for about nine months now and I love this fish! He can be shy, he hides most of the day as he is nocturnal. I think that it took him awhile to get used to us but he comes out at night even people are around now. I don't think that he likes the aquarium light though. He gets along fine with other fish, he seems to look a lot more hard core than he is. He is also the only fish out of a handful of fish that has survived my very aggressive blue gourami. He's so fun to watch, he often goes from still and almost lifeless to crazily swimming all over the tank. He is growing is starting to have a really cute fat little belly too.