Taxonomy & naming
Chiloglanis camarabounyi was described by Schmidt and Bart in 2017, one of nine new Chiloglanis species published together in a single Copeia paper documenting a burst of diversity among suckermouth catfishes in the Upper Guinean forest streams of West Africa. It belongs to the family Mochokidae, the African squeakers and upside-down catfishes, and to the genus Chiloglanis, the suckermouth squeakers distinguished from other mochokids by an oral disc modified for clinging to rock in fast water.
The species epithet camarabounyi refers to Camara-Bounyi, the village near the type locality on the Safa-Khoure River in the Konkouré drainage. As with the rest of the genus, Chiloglanis has at times been grouped or confused with other African mochokids in older literature, but the Catalog of Fishes treats Chiloglanis camarabounyi as a valid, distinct species within Chiloglanis; there is no older combination to correct here since it was described directly under its current name.
Morphology
Chiloglanis camarabounyi is a genuinely small catfish, reaching only about 2 in SL (standard length) at maximum recorded size — one of the smallest fish in the atlas. Like all Chiloglanis it has a flattened head and a ventral oral sucker disc, formed from modified lips, that lets it grip smooth rock surfaces in current the way a plecostomus or hillstream loach does. The body is scaleless (naked-skinned), which matters directly for medication dosing in captivity.
The species was separated from its eight sibling species described in the same 2017 paper by meristic and morphometric characters — details of mandibular tooth count, barbel length, and the shape and armature of the dorsal and pectoral spines. Like other mochokids it carries stiff, serrated, locking spines at the leading edge of the dorsal and pectoral fins; a local Guinean name recorded for the genus, "Fanye Makonyi," translates roughly as "fish that bites people," a fair warning about handling.
Habitat
This species is endemic to the Konkouré River drainage in Guinea, West Africa, known from a handful of small tributaries within the basin — the Goubhi, Sala River near Landou, Gastonya River near Kamara, Kombira River near Loguin, Safa-Khoure River near Camara-Bounyi (the type locality), and Kalikoure River near Bangouya. All of these are clear, flowing Upper Guinean forest streams, the kind of habitat that defines this recent radiation of Chiloglanis species.
Detailed temperature and pH data for the type streams were not captured in available sources, but comparable West African forest-stream Chiloglanis live in cool, well-oxygenated running water typical of Guinea's forest zone, roughly 72–75 °F. This is a lotic, current-loving fish rather than a still-water species, and its entire known distribution sits inside one river basin under active pressure from deforestation, agriculture, and hydropower development.
Feeding
Chiloglanis camarabounyi is a benthopelagic, largely nocturnal bottom-forager, in keeping with the feeding ecology described for the genus and for related West African Chiloglanis. It grazes algae and biofilm from rock surfaces using its sucker-disc mouth while also taking small invertebrates from the substrate, foraging mostly after dark.
In captivity — where this species is essentially unkept and unrecorded in the hobby — a Chiloglanis would need a diet built around grazing: algae wafers, blanched vegetables, and biofilm allowed to develop on hardscape, supplemented with sinking micro-pellets and small frozen foods offered after lights-out so a shy, current-loving grazer is not out-competed by bolder tankmates.
Mating
No courtship or spawning behavior has been documented for Chiloglanis camarabounyi. Data on breeding biology for this specific species is sparse to the point of absence in the available literature — the 2017 description paper is a taxonomic diagnosis, not a natural-history account, and no aquarium spawning has been recorded.
Breeding
Breeding has not been documented for Chiloglanis camarabounyi in the wild or in captivity, and maturity size is unknown. This is honest ground: unlike Synodontis multipunctatus or the bubble-nesting callichthyids, this tiny rheophilic squeaker has no recorded home-aquarium spawning, and given its narrow endemic range and specialist rock-grazing lifestyle, it is not a species anyone should expect to breed in a home tank. Sources should not be read as implying any particular breeding mode — none has been confirmed.
In the aquarium
Chiloglanis camarabounyi is not an established aquarium fish; it is a recently described, range-restricted West African endemic with no meaningful trade history, and this entry exists mainly to document the species rather than to recommend it as a pet. Anyone who did encounter it would need to replicate strong, well-oxygenated current over rock and driftwood — a species built for clinging to stone in flowing forest streams, not for still water.
Two care principles apply regardless: the fish is genuinely tiny, reaching only about 2 in SL, so the usual catfish "size trap" runs the other way here — it will never need a large tank, but it does need current and cover, not open swimming space. And like other Chiloglanis it is scaleless, so it should be treated as medication-sensitive — copper-based treatments and many standard medications should be dosed conservatively, as with loaches and other naked-skinned catfishes. Its stiff, locking spines mean it should be moved in a container rather than netted.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assesses Chiloglanis camarabounyi as Vulnerable (VU), reflecting its extremely restricted range — an extent of occurrence of roughly 11,252 mi², confined entirely to the Konkouré River drainage in Guinea. The listed threats are habitat loss and degradation from deforestation, agricultural expansion, hydropower development, and pollution within the basin.
Because the species is known from only a small number of tributary streams in a single river system, any one of these pressures — a new dam, expanded farmland, or water-quality decline — could disproportionately affect the population. There is no aquarium trade to speak of for this species, so collection pressure is not a relevant factor; the conservation story here is entirely about the health of the Konkouré basin's forest streams.