All fish / Chacidae

Chocolate Frogmouth Catfish

Chaca bankanensis

Also known as chocolate frogmouth catfish, frogmouth catfish, angler catfish, squarehead catfish, chaca catfish, bankanensis frogmouth, チャカ・バンカネンシス, ikan lele kodok, 小丑青蛙鲶, 青蛙鲶

This is a broad, flat-headed catfish with an enormous mouth and mottled brown, leaf-litter colouring that makes it nearly invisible among dead leaves. It is an ambush hunter that hardly moves, sometimes twitching its barbels as a lure. Keepers value it as an odd, characterful oddball for a dim blackwater setup.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

17 cm

Temperature

22 to 26 °C

pH

5 to 7

Smallest tank

100 litres

Keep as

Can be kept singly or in a small group of its own kind

Diet

Carnivore: live and frozen foods such as earthworms, bloodworm, river shrimp and small fish; may learn to take chunky frozen foods

Swims

Bottom of the tank

Lifespan

10 to 15 years

Water

Freshwater

Wild range

Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Bangka (Indonesia, Malaysia)

Breeding

Captive breeding is very rarely reported, and almost all specimens in the trade are caught in the wild. Little is known about how it spawns.

Good to know

It can swallow any fish that fits in its mouth, including surprisingly large tankmates, so keep it only with fish too big to eat. It does best in soft, acidic water with leaf litter and dim lighting, and it can be slow to accept non-living food.