Taxonomy & naming
This species was described by Fanny Chang and R. M. C. Castro in 1999 as Crossoloricaria bahuaja, in a paper in Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters (volume 10, number 1, pages 81–88) treating a new loricariid from Madre de Dios, southeastern Peru. It has since been reclassified in the genus Rhadinoloricaria, the combination recognised by FishBase and linked from the Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS); the parenthetical authority (Chang & Castro, 1999) reflects this generic transfer from its original placement.
Rhadinoloricaria belongs to the subfamily Loricariinae, the whiptail catfishes. No L-number or hobby code is associated with the species.
Morphology
Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja is a slender, elongate whiptail reaching about 6.5 in standard length (SL). The body is markedly elongated. Published meristics give a single dorsal spine with 6–7 dorsal soft rays, a single anal spine with 4 anal soft rays, and 33–34 vertebrae.
These counts derive from the original description by Chang and Castro (1999). No account of colour-in-life or of sexual dimorphism beyond the brooding role of males is reproduced in the sources consulted.
Habitat
The species inhabits freshwater, demersal, tropical conditions, with recorded water temperatures of 81–82 °F. It occurs in the main river channel and major tributaries, always over sandy beaches — a habitat preference consistent with the streamlined, sand-associated body form of many whiptail loricariines.
Its known range spans the Madre de Dios basin in Peru and the Rio Grande and Rio Manuripe in Pando, Bolivia, within the upper Madeira / Madre de Dios drainage of the southwestern Amazon.
Feeding
Stomach-content analysis reported in the original description shows that Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja feeds on aquatic insect larvae, small seeds, and debris (detritus). This places it at a low trophic level, with FishBase giving a value of 2.4 based on the recorded food items — an omnivorous, detritus-inclusive diet typical of sand-dwelling whiptails.
Mating
No detailed courtship behaviour has been described for Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja. What is documented is that males take on the brooding role: the type series included a male carrying fertilised eggs on its lips, indicating that males assume care of the clutch after spawning.
Breeding
Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja is a lip-brooder, practising a form of oral incubation seen among the Loricariinae. The holotype — a male of 4.5 in SL — carried 53 fertilised eggs measuring 0.5 in on its lips, while another specimen carried 31 unfertilised eggs of 0.5 in. The large egg size and the carrying of the clutch on the lips point to a low-fecundity strategy with substantial parental investment. No further detail on incubation period or fry development has been published.
In the aquarium
Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja is not a species of the ornamental trade, and no aquarium husbandry information has been published for it. Husbandry expectations could only be extrapolated from related sand-dwelling whiptails — fine sand substrate, warm well-oxygenated water, and gentle current — but such extrapolation is not offered here as documented guidance for this species.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assessed Rhadinoloricaria bahuaja as Least Concern (LC), with the assessment dated 25 April 2014. It is of no interest to fisheries and is not listed under CITES or CMS. The classification reflects its distribution across the Madre de Dios and adjacent Bolivian drainages within the southwestern Amazon.