Chocolate Talking Catfish

About

The chocolate talking catfish (Acanthodoras cataphractus) is a compact, heavily armored doradid from the calm swamps, mangroves, and slow-moving drainages of the Amazon basin and the coastal river systems of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It's a nocturnal burrower by nature, spending daylight hours tucked under submerged roots and wood, then emerging after dark to sift through the substrate for food. Like other members of the doradid family, it can produce audible sounds by stridulating its pectoral fin spines, which is where the "talking" part of its name comes from. A word of caution: those same spines, along with the rows of lateral scutes running down its flanks, can easily snag in a net and cause injury to both fish and keeper, so always use a container when moving it. This species is gregarious and genuinely benefits from being kept in groups of at least four, and it will readily school alongside similar-looking relatives like Platydoras armatulus. It fits well into a medium or larger community of peaceful Amazonian species, though it may take an interest in very small tankmates. It is not particularly common in the trade and is often imported incidentally alongside other doradids, so when you find it, it is worth picking up a small group.