Heterobranchus longifilis (Vundu / Sampa Catfish) Breeding Guide

Heterobranchus longifilis is a giant African aquaculture catfish bred by hormone-induced spawning and stripping, not in home aquaria.

Overview

Heterobranchus longifilis is a large air-breathing African catfish of the family Clariidae, sometimes called the vundu or sampa catfish. According to Wikipedia it is found across sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile, including the Niger, Volta, Senegal and Congo systems and lakes such as Chad, Tanganyika and Kariba, and reaches up to 1.5 m and about 55 kg. It is mainly a food and aquaculture species; in fish farming it is sometimes hybridised with Clarias gariepinus to produce 'Hetero-clarias' offspring.

Conditioning

In farmed populations studied in Ebrie Lagoon, Ivory Coast, females are selected for breeding when their mean oocyte diameter reaches at least 1.1 mm, indicating ripe broodstock. Conditioning depends on raising mature broodstock of suitable size rather than on aquarium triggers.

Spawning Behaviour & Trigger

Spawning is induced hormonally. According to the Ebrie Lagoon study, a single intramuscular injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) at between 1.0 and 2.5 IU per gram of body weight produced 100% ovulation. Latency to ovulation depends more on temperature than on hormone dose; at 27 to 29°C, eggs can be stripped within about 14 hours after a dose of 1.5 IU/g.

Egg & Fry Care

After stripping, most eggs are fertilised artificially and incubated, yielding a high proportion of normal larvae, reported at about 76% in that study. Comparative work shows alternative hormone treatments such as carp pituitary homogenate or Ovopel also induce ovulation, with Ovopel producing eggs in a higher percentage of females in one comparison. All of this takes place in hatchery incubators rather than in a community tank.

Common Challenges

Because reproduction relies on hormone induction, stripping and artificial fertilisation, and because adults are enormous and aggressive, this species cannot be bred by ordinary aquarists. It belongs to commercial aquaculture and research settings, not the home aquarium.