Taxonomy & naming
Cranoglanis multiradiata was described by the ichthyologist Koller in 1926. It belongs to the small, distinctive family Cranoglanididae — the armourhead or longbarbel catfishes — a lineage restricted to East and Southeast Asia and now placed within its own family rather than lumped with the larger sheatfish (Siluridae) or bagrid catfishes it superficially resembles. The genus Cranoglanis is the family's only genus, and the Catalog of Fishes treats Cranoglanis multiradiata as the valid combination.
The epithet multiradiatus is Latin for "many-rayed", referring to the unusually high ray count in the anal fin (34–43 rays per the ScotCat account) — a diagnostic feature that, together with a thicker, shorter cleithrum (the shoulder-girdle bone behind the gill cover), helps separate this species from its Cranoglanis relatives. Because Cranoglanididae is such a small, obscure family, older literature sometimes discussed these fish alongside the better-known Asian sheatfish and bagrids, but the genus name Cranoglanis is stable and current.
This fish was long listed as Cranoglanis multiradiatus; Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes places the species in Cranoglanis, and the current combination Cranoglanis multiradiata is followed here.
Morphology
Like other members of its family, Cranoglanis multiradiata has an elongated, sheatfish-like body with a scaleless, naked skin — smooth-bodied rather than plated. The head is bony and somewhat armoured on top (the family name Cranoglanididae nods to this "armourhead" build), and the fish carries long barbels used to feel out prey on the riverbed at night.
Reported maximum size is 13.8 in total length (ScotCat), with FishBase citing a slightly smaller 12.1 in standard length — either way this is a mid-sized to large catfish, not a nano species, and keepers should plan tank space accordingly rather than assume it stays small. As a scaleless fish it shares the medication sensitivity common to naked-skinned catfishes: copper-based treatments and many standard medications should be dosed conservatively.
Habitat
The species is native to river systems of southern China and northern Vietnam, most notably the Zhujiang (Pearl River) and the Red River, with records also noted from Hainan Island. These are warm-temperate to subtropical Asian river systems, distinct from the tropical lowland rivers that produce most aquarium catfish.
Water conditions reported by the cache are cooler and closer to neutral than typical tropical community water: roughly 68–75 °F with a pH of 6.0–7.2. This places Cranoglanis multiradiata outside the standard soft, warm, acidic-blackwater mould assumed for many Asian catfish — it is a cooler-running river species, and its water should not be generalised from tropical Southeast Asian relatives.
Feeding
Cranoglanis multiradiata is described as a predatory benthic species, foraging over the river bottom for other animals rather than grazing detritus or algae. Consistent with the nocturnal habits typical of this family and most bottom-dwelling catfish, it likely does most of its hunting after dark, using its barbels to locate prey by touch and smell in low light.
In the rare event it is kept, a predatory benthic catfish of this size should be offered meaty sinking foods — whole or chopped fish, prawn, and other protein-rich fare — rather than flake or algae wafers, with feeding timed toward evening or after lights-out to match its natural rhythm.
Mating
No courtship or spawning behaviour for Cranoglanis multiradiata is documented in the available sources. As a wide-ranging Asian river catfish that is rarely if ever encountered in the aquarium trade, its reproductive biology has not been observed or recorded by aquarists, and the cache carries no data on pairing, spawning triggers, or seasonal timing in the wild.
Breeding
There is no record of Cranoglanis multiradiata being bred in captivity, and the species is described as rarely seen in the aquarium trade at all — the handful of specimens that reach hobbyists are presumably wild-collected rather than farmed. Given the total absence of aquarium breeding reports, prospective keepers should treat this as an unbred species: any fish available almost certainly comes from the wild, and no home-aquarium breeding method can be recommended. Data on this species is sparse across the board, and breeding is no exception.
In the aquarium
This is not a species with an established aquarium-keeping tradition — sources agree it is rarely seen in the trade — so care information is necessarily limited and inferred largely from its biology. At a genuine adult size of 13.8 in it needs a large tank, not the modest setups suited to small community catfish; anyone acquiring one should be prepared for a sizeable, long-lived predator rather than assume it will stay small.
Being scaleless, it is medication-sensitive in the same way as loaches, puffers and other naked-skinned catfish — copper and many standard treatments should be used at reduced dose, and any illness should be treated cautiously. As a predatory benthic feeder it will take much smaller tankmates as food, so it should be housed only with fish too large to be eaten. Cooler, near-neutral water (around 68–75 °F, pH 6.0–7.2) should be maintained rather than typical tropical community conditions. Handle with care: catfish in general carry stiff, often serrated pectoral and dorsal spines that lock erect and can snag a net or jab the handler, so moving this fish in a container rather than a net is the safer approach.
Conservation
Cranoglanis multiradiata has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, so no formal conservation status is available. Its range across the Zhujiang and Red River systems of southern China and northern Vietnam includes some of the most heavily developed and dammed river basins in Asia, but without a completed assessment, statements about population trend or threat level would be speculation rather than fact — the honest position is that this is a data-poor, unassessed species.