Midget Sucker Catfish

1 Breed Introduction

The Midget Sucker Catfish is 4 to 6 cm long, also called the Earspot Catfish. Unlike many catfish, it does not eat plants. Because of its tiny size and ability to enter very narrow spaces, some keep it as the ‘cleaner’ of the aquarium.

English name: Midget Sucker Catfish

Type: Temperate freshwater fish

Origin: Brazil, South America

Breeding: Egg-laying (oviparous)

2 Physical Characteristics

It is very gentle and can mix with equally peaceful fish. Its tiny size lets it enter narrow spaces to clean off moss, so hobbyists keep it as the tank’s cleaner.

Adults are about 4 to 6 cm, from southeastern Brazil. The brown-gray body has a lengthwise stripe from eye to tail base. It uses its mouth sucker to graze algae in the tank; if algae are lacking, it easily dies.

3 Housing and Environment

Not hard to keep, and it does not need driftwood, since it does not suck wood for fiber or matter on it.

It is cheap and hardy. Though its cleaning power is far below that of the Siamese algae eater or ramshorn/nerite snails, it is diligent. At about 3 cm, a 60 cm tank needs 2 to 3; larger tanks scale up. It likes weakly acidic water and needs a short acclimation when bought, but adapts fast.

4 Feeding

It feeds mainly on algae; lack of algae easily kills it. Unlike the common pleco, it will not stop eating algae when other food appears.

Some catfish eat plants, but it does not; its tiny size lets it enter very narrow spaces to clean algae, and it also eats bothersome snail eggs, controlling snail numbers, truly a ‘cleaner of the planted tank’. It is sensitive, so cleaning is not very efficient, but unlike the flying fox it is not greedy for feed and focuses on algae.