Taxonomy & naming
Microstomatichthyoborus katangae was described by Léon David and Max Poll in 1937 from the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within the upper Lualaba River basin. It is placed in the family Distichodontidae — the African characins, a group that includes the plant-grazing Distichodus and several smaller detritivorous genera — within the order Characiformes.
The genus Microstomatichthyoborus is a taxonomic curiosity in its own right: at 23 characters it is recorded as the longest generic name currently in use for a living fish species, and Microstomatichthyoborus katangae, at 36 characters, is cited as the longest full species name (binomen) among living fishes. The genus is small, currently recognised as containing two described species, M. katangae and M. bashforddeani, both restricted to Congo-basin waters. As with the rest of the family, valid names in this genus are governed by the Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, California Academy of Sciences); no name change is indicated for this species.
Morphology
Published descriptions of Microstomatichthyoborus katangae are sparse, and no reliable maximum-length figure or detailed body-shape account turned up in the sources consulted for this article. The genus name itself is descriptive of a key trait — "mikros" (small) plus "stoma" (mouth) plus "ichthys" (fish) plus "bora" (glutton/devourer), pointing to a comparatively small, subterminal or underslung mouth suited to grazing rather than to seizing prey, consistent with its relatives in Distichodontidae.
Beyond that, this account does not have enough documented detail to describe fin counts, colouration or precise adult size with confidence, and prefers to say so rather than guess. Size and other morphological data are marked as sparse pending a source that documents them directly.
Habitat
The species is endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, with its type locality in the Katanga region of the upper Lualaba River basin — the headwaters of the Congo River system. Documented natural habitat consists of mountain streams, rivers and gravel-bottomed streams within this basin.
As with most upper Congo tributary habitats, water conditions are typical of warm, moderately flowing African river systems rather than the extreme soft blackwater associated with some Congo basin fish; however, no specific temperature or pH readings for this species' native streams were found in the sources consulted, so no numeric water-chemistry range is given here beyond general expectations for warm Congo-basin rivers.
Feeding
Microstomatichthyoborus katangae is documented as feeding on bottom detritus, consistent with the small, downturned mouth implied by its genus name and with the grazing habits typical of Distichodontidae. This places it among the detritivore/grazer characins of the family rather than among the more overtly herbivorous, plant-shredding Distichodus species.
No aquarium feeding record exists for this species, so specific dietary recommendations for captive fish cannot be given with confidence; a keeper would reasonably extrapolate from its wild detritivorous habit toward vegetable-forward foods plus some fine particulate matter, but that is inference rather than documented fact.
Mating
No courtship or pairing behaviour has been documented for Microstomatichthyoborus katangae in the sources available. Nothing is known about sexual dimorphism, courtship displays, or how pairs (if the species pairs at all) select spawning sites.
Breeding
There is no documented breeding record for Microstomatichthyoborus katangae, in the aquarium or otherwise. Its relatives among the African characins — the Distichodus species and the citharinids — are egg-scatterers that are rarely bred at home, and Distichodus in particular is notoriously difficult to spawn in a tank; it is reasonable to expect a similar egg-scattering mode here, but this has not been confirmed for this species specifically, and no aquarium spawning of M. katangae appears in the record. This account does not assign a confirmed breeding mode.
In the aquarium
Microstomatichthyoborus katangae is not an established aquarium fish. No hobby literature, care guide or livestock record documenting tank size, water parameters, temperament or compatibility for this species was found in the sources consulted; it appears to be genuinely absent from, or vanishingly rare in, the trade. A prospective keeper should treat any offered specimen with caution given the total lack of a husbandry record, and should not assume it behaves like the better-known Distichodus species — the family spans everything from peaceful nano grazers to large, boisterous plant-shredders, and this species' place on that spectrum is undocumented.
Given the absence of any care data, this article makes no specific tank-size or water-parameter recommendation and instead flags the gap rather than inventing one.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assesses Microstomatichthyoborus katangae as Least Concern. As a range-restricted Congo-basin endemic known mainly from the upper Lualaba (Katanga) system, its conservation profile is tied to the health of that specific river system rather than to trade pressure — there is no evidence of aquarium collection affecting wild populations, since the species does not appear to be part of the aquarium trade.