Taxonomy & naming
Chiloglanis kolente was described by Schmidt & Bart in 2017. It belongs to the family Mochokidae — the African squeakers and upside-down catfishes — within the genus Chiloglanis, the second-largest catfish genus in Africa after Synodontis, with more than 40 recognised species. As a fish described only recently, ecological and life-history data are still limited, and the species has not been reassigned or placed in synonymy since its description.
The genus name Chiloglanis derives from Greek cheilos, "lip", and glanis, an old name for a catfish, referring to the enlarged, sucker-like oral disc shared by all species in the genus. The specific epithet kolente refers directly to the Kolenté River in Guinea, the drainage from which the species was first collected and described — a straightforward toponym rather than a descriptive Latin epithet.
Morphology
Like other members of its genus, Chiloglanis kolente has a flattened head and an enlarged, sucker-like oral disc on the underside of the mouth, an adaptation shared across the genus for gripping rock surfaces in current rather than for feeding alone. FishBase records two dorsal spines with 4–5 soft rays, and no anal spines with 8–10 soft rays — a modest, unarmoured-looking fin formula typical of the smaller squeakers.
Maximum recorded size is only about 1 in standard length, making it one of the smallest catfishes in the family and, so far as is documented, a genuinely dwarf species rather than one that merely looks small as a juvenile. As in other Mochokidae the skin is scaleless, and small pectoral and dorsal spines are present, though — unlike many larger catfish in this atlas — they are not described in the available sources as strongly locking or hazardous, and the species is regarded as harmless to humans.
Habitat
Chiloglanis kolente is known from the Santa River near Morigbea and from the Kolenté River drainage in Guinea, West Africa — a small, specific range rather than a widespread river system. It is a benthopelagic, rheophilic species: a fast-water specialist that lives clinging to rocky substrates in flowing stretches of these rivers, using its oral sucker to stay in place against the current while it forages.
No temperature, pH or hardness data have been documented for this species in the available literature. As a rheophilic West African river fish it can be assumed to prefer well-oxygenated, flowing water, but stating specific numbers would go beyond what has actually been recorded — keepers and researchers alike are working from a real data gap here.
Feeding
Detailed dietary studies of Chiloglanis kolente have not been published, but the genus as a whole are nocturnal benthic micro-predators and grazers: they work rock surfaces for aufwuchs, algae, detritus and small invertebrates, foraging mostly after dark in their native fast-flowing habitat.
Given the species' minute size and specialised sucker-mouth, any aquarium diet would need to follow that pattern closely — sinking foods offered after lights-out, with algae and biofilm on hard surfaces likely forming a significant part of the natural intake. This is inference from the genus rather than a documented account of C. kolente specifically.
Mating
No courtship or spawning behaviour has been documented for Chiloglanis kolente. The species was only described in 2017, is not established in the aquarium trade, and has not been the subject of reproductive study in the wild or in captivity, so nothing specific can be said here without guessing.
Breeding
There are no captive breeding reports for Chiloglanis kolente. All aquarium literature on the species notes that specimens seen in the trade — where they appear at all — are wild-collected, with no documented spawning in captivity. This mirrors the pattern for most small rheophilic Chiloglanis species, which are rarely if ever bred by hobbyists.
Given the total absence of breeding data, it would be dishonest to assign this species a spawning mode; nothing is known about its reproductive biology, parental care, or fecundity, and this remains a genuine gap rather than an oversight.
In the aquarium
Chiloglanis kolente is not an established aquarium fish. It has no history of regular importation, no documented care requirements, and aquarium sources describe wild-collected specimens rather than a stable hobby population — anyone encountering this species in the trade should treat it as a genuinely uncommon, likely unsustainable offering given its Endangered status and tiny natural range.
What can be said follows from its biology: at roughly 1 in adult length this is a true dwarf, so the usual catfish "size trap" runs the other way here — the risk is under-provisioning current and oxygenation, not tank size. As a rheophilic species it would need strong water flow, high dissolved oxygen and rocky surfaces to graze and cling to, more akin to hillstream loach or otocinclus care than to typical community catfish keeping. As with other scaleless Mochokidae, conservative dosing of copper-based and other medications would be prudent, though this species' own sensitivity has not been specifically tested. Given the conservation status and total lack of husbandry data, this is not a fish to recommend for the hobby.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assesses Chiloglanis kolente as Endangered, an assessment made in November 2019. The species is known only from a restricted part of the Kolenté River drainage in Guinea, including the Santa River near Morigbea, which makes it inherently vulnerable to any localised habitat disturbance — siltation, water extraction, mining or deforestation in a single small river system could plausibly affect the entire known population.
AquaticRepublic.com notes that collection for the aquarium trade is itself flagged as a conservation concern for this species, given how narrow its range is. With no captive-breeding programme and a habitat confined to one West African drainage, this is a species whose long-term survival depends entirely on protecting that specific stretch of river rather than on anything the aquarium hobby can currently offer.