Taxonomy & naming
Lundberg, Mago-Leccia and Nass described Exallodontus aguanai in 1991 from the Río Orinoco near Los Castillos in the Delta Amacuro, Venezuela, from a depth of 66–98 ft. It is placed in Pimelodidae, and Exallodontus is a small genus. The Catalog of Fishes lists the name as valid.
Morphology
FishBase gives a maximum of 8 in SL. Like other pimelodids it has three pairs of long barbels and a naked skin. The generic name combines Greek roots for different and tooth.
Habitat
FishBase lists a freshwater bottom fish of the tropics, found in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, with a recorded depth range of 66–98 ft. That depth points to the channels of large rivers rather than shallow margins. No temperature, pH or hardness range is cached.
Feeding
No diet is recorded in the sources used. Pimelodids of this size are carnivores that take small fishes, crustaceans and insects from the bottom.
Mating
Mating behaviour is not described.
Breeding
No breeding record for the species is known to the atlas.
In the aquarium
Deep-river fishes are rarely kept, and no husbandry notes were available. A 8 in catfish needs a long tank with open swimming room and a sand floor, and it should not share with fishes small enough to swallow. Stores list it as wild-collected stock.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List carries Exallodontus aguanai as Least Concern, assessed in December 2020.