Taxonomy & naming
Chiloglanis cameronensis was described by the Belgian-British ichthyologist George Albert Boulenger in 1904, with the type locality in Cameroon. It belongs to the family Mochokidae, the African squeakers and upside-down catfishes, and to the genus Chiloglanis, a large group of small suckermouth "rock-clinging" catfishes distributed across sub-Saharan Africa's fast-flowing rivers. The Catalog of Fishes treats Chiloglanis cameronensis as a currently valid name in this genus.
The genus name Chiloglanis derives from Greek cheilos (lip) and glanis (an old name for a catfish), a direct reference to the fleshy, sucker-like oral disc that defines the genus. The species epithet cameronensis simply means "of Cameroon", naming the country of the type locality. As with many small Chiloglanis, the species has at times been confused with close relatives sharing the same river systems, and identification relies on details of the sucker disc and fin-spine structure rather than colour pattern alone.
Morphology
This is a genuinely small catfish: FishBase reports a maximum of about 2 in standard length, with total length to roughly 2 in. Like other Chiloglanis it has a flattened head and body built for clinging to rock in current, and its most distinctive feature is a suckermouth — a fleshy, disc-like oral apparatus on the underside of the head that lets it hold station on wet, fast-flowing rock faces the way a hillstream loach does, an example of convergent evolution toward the same rapids niche.
The body is scaleless (naked-skinned), as in Mochokidae generally, which has direct consequences for medication sensitivity (see "In the aquarium"). Typical of the family, it carries a stiffened, serrated leading spine in the dorsal and pectoral fins that can lock erect; these spines are a genuine snagging hazard in a net and should be treated with respect even in a fish this small.
Habitat
Chiloglanis cameronensis is native to coastal river basins of Central Africa, recorded from the Sanaga, Lokoundje, Kienke and Ntem rivers in Cameroon, the Rio Mongo and Rio Muni in Equatorial Guinea, and the Ntem and Ivindo rivers in Gabon. It is a lotic specialist, found in fast-flowing rapids and riffles over rocky, sandy or muddy substrates, typically under a dense riparian forest canopy.
Water in these systems is soft and only mildly acidic to near-neutral, with FishBase citing a hardness around dH 5–10 and tropical temperatures of roughly 73–81 °F; other field notes describe very low mineral content (conductivity in the tens of microsiemens) and a pH near 7.3. This is not a still-water or blackwater fish — the defining habitat feature is fast-moving, well-oxygenated current, which the fish needs both to breathe efficiently across its gills and to hold position with its sucker mouth.
Feeding
Chiloglanis cameronensis is a nocturnal benthic grazer and micro-predator, foraging mostly after dark over rock and gravel for biofilm, algae, and small invertebrates, in the manner typical of small rock-clinging Mochokidae. FishBase and related notes do not detail stomach-content studies for this exact species, but the sucker-disc mouth and rapids habitat point strongly to a grazing lifestyle rather than active hunting in open water.
In the aquarium it should be offered sinking foods after lights-out — algae wafers, biofilm-rich foods, and small frozen or live invertebrates — so it is not out-competed by more active, daytime tankmates. Given its tiny size, food particles need to be small enough for its mouth.
Mating
FishBase notes that Chiloglanis cameronensis is oviparous with distinct pairing during breeding, but detailed field or aquarium observations of courtship in this species are not documented in the cache used for this profile. Data sparse: no confirmed account of spawning behaviour, egg-laying site, or fry development is available to describe in detail here.
Breeding
There is no documented, repeatable record of Chiloglanis cameronensis being bred in the home aquarium. As an oviparous rock-clinger of fast rapids, it most likely deposits adhesive eggs onto rock or gravel in current in the wild, similar to other small Mochokidae, but this has not been confirmed for the species specifically. Aquarium supply of Chiloglanis species is generally wild-collected rather than captive-bred, and this species should be assumed to fall into that category unless better information emerges — it is honest to say breeding in captivity is essentially unachieved for this fish rather than to guess at a method.
In the aquarium
Chiloglanis cameronensis stays genuinely small — around 2 in SL, to about 2 in TL at most — but it is not an easy beginner fish despite its size, because its needs are specialised rather than modest. It requires strong, well-oxygenated current and a rocky, well-aerated setup mimicking rapids; a still, low-flow community tank will not suit it, and it should not be assumed to tolerate typical soft-tropical-community conditions just because the water itself is soft. Powerheads or a river-manifold style of flow, along with smooth rock and gravel for the sucker disc to grip, are appropriate.
As with other Mochokidae it is scaleless, so it is more sensitive than scaled fish to copper and to many medications — dose conservatively, ideally at reduced strength, and avoid copper-based treatments where possible. It also carries small but stiff, serrated locking pectoral and dorsal spines that can snag in a net; move it in a container rather than netting it. It is best kept in a species or specialist rapids-biotope tank with other small, current-loving fish, given cover among rocks, and fed after dark to match its nocturnal foraging habit.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assesses Chiloglanis cameronensis as Least Concern, based on an assessment dated 16 February 2009 (published 2010). No major threats were identified for the species at the time of evaluation, and its broad distribution across multiple coastal river basins in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon supports the Least Concern designation.
Because it is a rapids specialist tied to fast, well-oxygenated water, the longer-term risks for species like this are the general pressures on tropical river systems — deforestation of riparian canopy, sedimentation, and damming or flow alteration that would degrade the rapids habitat it depends on — even though no such threat is currently flagged as significant for this particular species.