Butter Catfish

About

The Butter Catfish (Ompok bimaculatus) is also commonly called the two-spot glass catfish, a name that hints at its semi-transparent body and the pair of dark spots near its shoulder. It comes from the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar, where it lives in slow-moving, often muddy shallows. Sandy streams, river margins, flooded fields, and irrigation canals. Despite that peaceful temperament label, this fish comes with an important caveat: it carries a mouthful of sharp teeth and will absolutely swallow any smaller tankmate it can fit inside. Think of it as peaceful toward fish its own size, and predatory toward anything smaller. Good companions include medium to large cyprinids, robust characins, other similarly-sized catfish from Asia or South America, and larger cichlids. It is an infrequently seen species in the hobby, and what's sold under this name may actually represent several distinct species. Researchers suspect the current classification lumps together populations that differ noticeably in appearance, which may also explain why the fish tolerates quite a wide range of water chemistry. Xanthic and albino variants do turn up occasionally in the trade. Breeding in captivity has so far only been achieved using hormone injections, so don't expect natural spawning in a home aquarium.