Platydoras costatus

Used names: English: Striped Raphael Catfish, Chocolate Catfish, Striped Talking Catfish, Humbug Catfish, Thorny Catfish, Talking Catfish, Croaking Spiny Catfish, Chocolade Doradid
Latin: Platydoras costatus, Cataphractus costatus, Doras costatus, Silurus costatus
Czech: Trnovec bělopruhý

Tribe: Doradidae

Type locality: South America (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, Surinam, Venezuela, Guyana, France Guyana)




Temperature: 20-30°C (58 - 87 F)

PH: 6,0 - 7,5, ideal is 7,0

Feeding: snails, tubifex, worms, tablet food, small fishes
(it preferes to be fed at night after lights out)

Size: up to 20 cm (8 inches)

Tank: planted aquarium with many dens

History:
This catfish was firstly discribed in 1758 and was named as Silurus costatus. One hundered years later has been renamed into Platydoras costatus and this name is in use up to our days.

Discription:
Platydoras is a beautiful fish, not only for it´s typical brown-cream or brown-yellow stripped body, even for it´s build. The body is under the skin created by bone plates built-up in the strong armour. There is a perfect system of thorns for it´s defence. Especially marked is a strip of back-curved spins, whitch is horizontally spread across bouth sides of the fish from the head to the caudal fin. For a man are very dangerous spins covered with wide pectorales, whose would give you a painful shock. The skin of the upper part of the fish is extremely coarse in contrast with the white silken skin on the belly. Chocolate fish must have an ever so much advanced scent, because it can find a food in a tank, even if is the feed placed more than one metre (1,09 yards) away. Platydorases are known for their very low demands on watter composition and for their longevity (there are cases of Platydorases living in a tank more than twenty years).
Behavior:
It´s exclusively nocturnal fish and days spends hidden under roots or other lies. In daytime it doesn´t leave its den, only from time to time it shows its snout. After any noise or movement it disappears in its hole. Platydoras leaves its den generally a few hours after the lights go out and it goes looking for food. It happens very often, that in an aquarium with sufficient lies it is not seen for weeks, even for months. I can´t forget its food habits. They are interesting. Sometimes Rafael eats everything he finds and sometimes he fasts. Platydoras behavior changes like weather - sometimes they are coy and sometimes they are very familiar. Sometimes they are active and sometimes they only lie apathicly at the bottom. They are very friendly to other fishes and as a matter of fact, they ignore them (of course besides fishes small enough to be eaten). It is accustomed that two or three raphaels are hidden in one den pressed to each other. If we breed group of platydorases, the biggest one usually takes over and the others its reign accept. There would be a problem if you bring together two groups. Reign of two kings in one kingdom is impossible and so the weaker one obtain few gashes in graples for reign and then conformes the stronger one. This fish is able to produce sounds by movements of crust plates and uses it for browbeat of enemy, or when is frightened.

Breeding, gender:
It is very difficult to multiply platydorases in aquarium. It was successful only with use of hormonal stimulation. There are not known defferences between male and female apart from more robust build of female.

My own experiences with Chocolate Catfish:
Some time ago, I found my raphael float without movement with belly at the top. It appeared, my darling is dead. I was so sad, that it had died and only out of curiosity I touched it´s belly with my toe. No motion. When i wanted to touch it once more, it suddenly turned and swiftly vanished under the plants.

In the end, Platydorases are my favorite fishes and I can advise them in every community aquarium.