This species is almost unheard of in the aquarium trade though may occasionally be exported among shipments of wild fishes from Sumatra.

It’s closely-related to K. bichirris but is told apart by presence (vs. absence) of a prominent, dark lateral stripe on each flank.

Kryptopterus species are found only in Southeast Asia and the genus has been consi…

Type locality is ‘Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia’, but this species is widely-distributed throughout much of Southeast Asia including major river systems in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia plus the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java.

It’s been extensively recorded from the Mekong, Cha…

This species is likely to be traded for aquaria but probably misidentified as the very similar-looking K. cyrptopterus with which wild populations were formerly considered conspecific.

These two are closely-related and can be distinguished from congeners by the dorsal profile lacking a nuchal concavity (vs. possessing a nuchal concavity) and possessing short maxillary barbels (extending to the pectoral-fin base vs. ext…

Generally peaceful though it may predate on smaller fishes and is somewhat timid so does not compete well with much larger, robust or otherwise boisterous species.

Peaceful, comparably-sized cyprinids, loaches and other catfishes perhaps constitute the best options but be sure to research your choices thoroughly prior to purchase.

P. apogon has formerly been placed within the genera Kryptopterus, Micronema (Rainboth, 1996) and more recently Phalacronotus (Ferraris, 2007) and is an important food fish across much of its native range.

It’s very similar to P. micronema but can be told apart by its longer head (HL fits 4.6± 5.3 times in…

This species has been available in the trade for decades during which time it’s been widely misidentified as the valid congeners K. bicirrhis or, more recently, K. minor.

Its identity was not resolved until early 2013 meaning you will find it under one of these two names in the majority of literature published prior to that date.

Other trade names include ‘Asia…

Known from the Malay Peninsula and Singapore plus Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java in Indonesia with populati0ns from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam formerly considered as conspecific now referred to K. geminus (Ng, 2003).

Type locality is given as ‘Bandjarmassing’ which corresponds to a town now more commonly referred to as ‘Banjarmasin’ in South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) province, Indonesia (Borneo).

Has been recorded in fast-flowing environments but most commonly associated with peat swamp forests and associated blackwater streams.

Many such habitats have suffered degradation of some kind but in unaltered cases the dense canopy of branches above means very little light penetrates the surface of such environments, and riparian vegetation also tends to grow thickly.