Whiptail catfish

Rineloricaria fallax is a slender, twig-like whiptail catfish from the Amazon basin of South America, where it lives among submerged wood, leaf litter and root tangles in gently flowing water. Its mottled brown body and long filamentous tail provide excellent camouflage against branches. Thoroughly peaceful and rather shy, it makes an ideal bottom-dweller for a well-planted community with driftwood, smooth stones and hiding tubes. Provide soft, slightly acidic to neutral water, gentle current, good oxygenation and a fine sand substrate that will not damage its belly. Diet is omnivorous with an algae and biofilm bias: offer sinking vegetable wafers, blanched vegetables and occasional frozen foods, always ensuring driftwood is present for grazing. Cave and tube spawners, males guard the eggs. Sensitive to poor water quality, so maintain low nitrate and stable parameters.