Dwarf catfish - Ameiurus nebulosus

Dwarf Catfish - Ameiurus nebulosus

From North America comes the American Dwarf Cat fish or Brown Catfish. Ameiurus nebulosus lives in slow flowing or stagnant waters in its native country, and the small catfish is found as far north as the mouths of rivers.

The American Dwarf Catfish is a cold water fish for the garden pond. It lives on the bottom, which can be seen by its flat and broad head. Its very wide mouth is lined with four pairs of barbels. American Dwarf Catfish are brownish on top and whitish underneath. They can match their surroundings in color. The dorsal fin and pectoral fins of Ameiurus nebulosus are covered with short spines. In their native habitat, American Dwarf Catfish are delicious food fish that are also prized by sport anglers.

Ameiurus nebulosus is a rather nocturnal predatory catfish and also eats snails, worms, crustaceans, insect larvae, mosquito larvae and insects living in the pond, amphibians and amphibian larvae, juvenile fish and even adult smaller to medium-sized fish up to the size of a goldfish. Algae and plant parts are also on its menu from time to time. The American Dwarf Catfish is easy to feed with pond fish food. American catfish need a proper food supply.

A Dwarf Catfish can also live in solitary confinement in the garden pond, it does not necessarily need conspecifics. The pond for the brown catfish must be sufficiently large - the more catfish you want to keep, the larger the pond must be. If the pond is 1-1.3 meters deep and the water does not freeze completely, then you can overwinter your dwarf catfish outside in the garden pond. Then the brown catfish will fall into cold sleep at the bottom of the pond.

If you have males and females of the dwarf catfish in the pond, the catfish can also reproduce in the garden pond. Between March and May, the females dig a shallow pit near the pond shore where they lay their spawning balls containing up to 4000 eggs. The male takes care of the brood, tends the clutch and looks after the catfish larvae, which at first look like tadpoles, for a while after hatching. Only when the young catfish begin to swim freely does the male catfish stop brood care.

Catfish can also be kept in an aquarium with an edge length of 150 cm or more or a capacity of 400 liters. The water values are not important, but the water temperature must not exceed 24 °C permanently, even in summer. The filter in an aquarium with the voracious, active catfishes must be very efficient. Catfish inhabit the bottom region and like to hide, so there must be enough hiding places and foliage on the bottom.

Catfish are capable of surviving in the wild. They can become relatively invasive in the process and should never be released into the wild or even abandoned.