Taxonomy & naming
Chiloglanis devosi was described in 2015 by Schmidt, Bart and Nyingi in Zootaxa (4044.1.2), the same paper that described its close relative C. kerioensis from the neighbouring Kerio River/Lake Turkana drainage. The paper included a dichotomous key separating all of the Chiloglanis species known from Kenya, reflecting how easily these small, superficially similar suckermouth catfishes are confused in the field. It belongs to the family Mochokidae, the African squeakers and upside-down catfishes, and to Chiloglanis, a genus of close to fifty described species distributed across sub-Saharan Africa.
The genus name Chiloglanis combines Greek roots referring to the lip and to a catfish, a nod to the enlarged, sucker-like oral disc that defines the group. As with many recently split East African stream endemics, C. devosi has not old-combination baggage to correct — it was erected directly in Chiloglanis and has stood as described since 2015.
Morphology
This is a genuinely tiny catfish: FishBase data for the genus places the maximum standard length at 2 in (about 2 in), among the smallest fish in the entire order Siluriformes. The body is pinkish-brown with gold flecking along the flanks, and the fins are yellow with brown markings — a cryptic pattern suited to camouflage against wet rock in shallow, sunlit riffles.
Like all Chiloglanis, C. devosi carries a distinctive ventral oral sucker disc, formed from modified lips, that lets it grip smooth or algae-covered rock in strong current — the same basic strategy used convergently by hillstream loaches and some plecos, but built from entirely different tissue. Sexual dimorphism is present: females grow larger than males, and males have elongated anal-fin rays that extend beyond the adipose fin. Like other members of the family it is scaleless, with naked, sensitive skin, and it carries the stiff, locking pectoral spines typical of Mochokidae, though at this size they pose little practical hazard beyond snagging in a net.
Habitat
Chiloglanis devosi is known only from its type locality: the Ewaso Nyiro (Ng'iro) River below Chanler's Falls in Kenya, a fast-flowing stretch of an inland drainage system that never reaches the sea, terminating instead in the Lorian Swamp. No other populations have been documented, which is typical of the genus — many Chiloglanis species are narrow-range endemics tied to a single waterfall-bounded reach or river system.
The genus as a whole is a hillstream and rapids specialist, living on current-swept rock and cobble where dissolved oxygen is high and flow is constant; C. devosi almost certainly occupies the same kind of fast, well-aerated riffle habitat immediately below the falls that gives it its name-bearing locality.
Feeding
Specific dietary data for C. devosi has not been published, but the genus is a nocturnal benthic grazer-omnivore: Chiloglanis species rasp biofilm, algae and associated small invertebrates from rock surfaces using the same oral disc they use to hold station in current, supplementing this with detritus and tiny invertebrate prey picked from the substrate after dark.
In a hypothetical aquarium setting this would translate to a fish that wants a mix of algae wafers and vegetable matter alongside small live or frozen foods such as micro-daphnia and fine bloodworm, offered after lights-out so a fish this small and this shy is not out-competed by tankmates.
Mating
No courtship or spawning behaviour has been documented for Chiloglanis devosi. Species-level breeding biology for the genus is generally poorly known even in the wild, and this is a species described only in 2015 from a single river reach with no subsequent aquarium history to draw on — the honest position is that its mating behaviour is currently undescribed.
Breeding
There is no record of Chiloglanis devosi being bred, or even reliably kept, in captivity. The genus as a whole is rarely imported and essentially unknown in home aquaria, and nothing in the available literature describes a reproductive strategy specific to this species. Do not assume any breeding mode — egg-scattering, cave-spawning or otherwise — has been confirmed here; it simply has not been studied outside its native river.
In the aquarium
Chiloglanis devosi is not a realistic aquarium prospect: it is known from a single river locality in Kenya, has never been reported in the trade, and there is no husbandry track record to draw on. Anyone encountering fish sold as Chiloglanis should treat the identification with caution, since the genus is large and its members are difficult to tell apart without technical keys.
Were a Chiloglanis of this size ever kept, the general genus template from related species (e.g. C. polypogon) points to a small, current-heavy setup: cool-to-moderate temperature, well-oxygenated flowing water, a fine substrate with smooth rock and driftwood, and the caution that applies to all scaleless catfishes — dose copper and other medications conservatively, as naked skin is more permeable and more sensitive than scaled fish. At under 2 in, C. devosi does not carry a size trap in the usual sense, but its specialised rapids habitat and total lack of a captive record mean it should not be attempted from wild-caught stock.
Conservation
Chiloglanis devosi has not yet been evaluated by the IUCN Red List. It was described only in 2015 and is known from a single river locality, so a formal assessment may simply not have been carried out yet for such a recently recognised, narrow-range species.
A single-locality endemic restricted to one reach of the Ewaso Nyiro below Chanler's Falls is inherently vulnerable to local pressures — water abstraction, damming, siltation or pollution anywhere in that limited range could affect the entire known population, even without a formal threat assessment confirming it.