Prefers a dimly-lit aquarium with plenty of cover in the form of live plants, driftwood branches, terracotta pipes, plant pots, etc., arranged to form a network of nooks, crannies, and shaded spots.

Surface vegetation such as Ceratopteris spp. is also appreciated and makes the fish less inclined to conceal themselves.

Known from various parts of the middle and upper Mekong river basins with record existing from the Nam Tha, Nam Ou, Nam Khan, Nam Lik, Nam Ngum and Nam Mang tributary systems in Laos, the Nam Noeua (a tributary of Nam Ou) in Vietnam, and the Mae Nam Kok in Thailand.

Occurrences in the Chao Phraya drainage in central Thailand most likely refer to the congener R. chiengmaiensis.

This species is a near-exclusive inhabitant of the upper water column and appreciates surface cover in the form of floating or overhanging vegetation.

Other décor is relatively unimportant but can consist of a sandy substrate with leaf litter plus some large driftwood branches and twisted roots.

Plants which can grow rooted in sand can al…

This species was considered a colour form of the closely-related B. imbellis and commonly-referred to as ‘black imbellis’ prior to description due to its blackish opercle and body.

It’s also previously been confused with B. splendens due to the colour of the vertical opercular bars which tend to be reddish (but may also be pale red, greenish-silvery, plain silvery or without colour in some populations), but DNA analysis has demonstrated it…

This species has previously been considered synonymous with both O. ornatus and O. pulchellus but is currently considered to be distinct following (Tejavej, 2012).

It can be distinguished from congeners by a combination of characters including: small caudal spot presen…

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.

Type locality is ‘Central Sumatra, Indonesia’, with additional records existing from Cambodia (Mekong drainage), Peninsular Malaysia (Perak River), Sumatra (from the Siak River, Riau province to the Musi River, South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) province) and Borneo (south and westwards from the Belait river basin in Brunei Darussalam to the Sambas drainage in West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat) province, Indonesia and probably in Sarawak, Malaysia).

This species appears to be unknown in the aquarium trade but is a valued food fish within its native range.

Hemibagrus has been divided into a number of putative species groups which may or may not represent monophyletic assemblages, and following a major review by Ng and Kottelat (2013) H. filamentus is included in the H. nemurus group.