Asian Upside Down Catfish, Mystus leucophasis

Common Names: Asian upside-down catfish, giant upside-down catfish, gold-spot catfish, Sittang mystus (lol what?)

Scientific Name: Mystus leucophasis (Blyth, 1860)

From Where? A genuinely Asian catfish from Myanmar, where it can be found in several freshwater rivers in the region.

Size: Can easily attain 30cm (1 foot) in both your fishtank and it in the wild. They grow quite fast, too.

Foodstuffs: like its African Synodontis counterparts, these catfish have adapted to feed from the underside of submerged objects, and in M. leucophasis, they'll rarely turn their bellies to the gravel to feed. As such, slow sinking or floating pellets are your best option. So long as the food doesn't touch the floor, they'll take it. Will eventually learn to take from the surface, too.

Water: 100% freshwater - these guys are tough and really don't mind what kind of water you throw them in, provided that extremes in pH and temperature are avoided. Keep at water above 23 degrees C and below 30 degrees C (above 73, below 86 F), they'll be quite happy.

Aquarium Specifics: As you'll read a little later, these fish like to have a place to themselves, quite apart from everyone else. This can be done in two ways: provide a large enough tank of at least 1.5 meters length (5 feet) so that everyone can stay out of each other's way, and then adding lots of decor such as rocks, pipes, wood and caves so the Asian upside-downer can have a place to call his own. Dimmer lighting encourages daytime activity out of this fish.

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Compatibility: NOT VERY FRIENDLY. To start with, they don't like their own kind, and only in truly massive tanks can two ever co-exist. Even juveniles will go at each other, at best just causing some fin damage.
Secondly, they don't like other fish cramping their space. And by 'their space', I mean an area which can be quite large, covering at least one corner of the tank. Any intruders can/will be nastily chased away and given mean glances for the rest of the day.
Your best bet is to stick to larger fish which stay neat the surface - Apollo sharks or gars might work.

Specific Problems: MEAN.

Rarity: Not too rare. They come in quite often but hide very well in dealer's tanks.

Similar Species: do not confuse with African upside-down catfish, Synodontis spp. Asians have much longer barbels, are much more aggro, and almost NEVER swim the right way around, where Africans will spend at least some time being normal.