Tatia Musaica Royero
Tatia musaica, snag catfish, Ninja catfish, Centromochlus musaica in nature inhabits the Athabapo and Autana river basins in the upper Orinoco River flowing in Venezuela, Colombia.
Tatia musaica Royero is coloured black with three white spots on the belly. Sexual differences lie in the anal fin of the fish. Females have a normal anal fin, while males have a thickening of the first and second rays. Fish reach a size of 5 cm.
Place plastic tubes of suitable diameter in the aquarium, in which the Tatia musaica will hide during the day. These fish can also be kept with other peace-loving and size-matched fish. Keeping them together with fry is inadmissible, because the tatia muse becomes active at night, when all the fish are resting, and may eat them.
These secretive black and white catfish require a mature aquarium in which biological equilibrium has been established. The substrate should be sandy. There should be plenty of hiding places on the bottom in the form of snags. Although plants are not present in the natural habitat of these fish, they can be planted in the aquarium, which will largely contribute to shading in bright light, and will also serve as additional hiding places for the fish. Species such as Javanese ferns or anubias are excellent choices.
Keep Ninja Catfish preferably in a group of at least 5. During the day they are resting, hiding in a shelter and in order to see the fish enough to throw a bit of moth at an open area in the aquarium - fish instantly react to it and madly begin to run around the aquarium in search of food. some aquarists add blue backlighting in the aquarium, which turns on shortly before turning off the main light, which allows the natural behavior of these catfish during the evening hours.
Water parameters: temperature 22-25° C, hardness dH 2-18°, pH 6,0-7,0. A weekly change of 1/3 of the aquarium water with fresh water is required.
Lighting should be dim, with an intensity of approximately 0.2 W/l.
Daily light duration is 9-10 hours.
The fish menu consists of various frozen and live foodstuffs: bloodworms, daphnia, earthworms. The fish do not refuse dry food that sinks to the bottom, either. Feeding should take place at night or under blue lighting, in order to make the fish feel sufficiently safe. Tatia musaica do not know in moderation when eating, so be careful not to overfeed them.
Reproduction
The tatia muse does not breed naturally in aquarium conditions. An injection of a hormone is required to induce spawning. Spawning is stimulated by replacing more than half of the aquarium water with fresh water. Spawning takes place at night. The eggs are very sticky and stick to all objects in the aquarium. The eggs incubate for 36-48 hours. The fry begin to swim on the 2nd day of life. To maintain the stock of fry need to strictly monitor water quality.
Feed fry artemia 4 times a day.
