Remarks: The orca woodcat is possibly one of the most desirable woodcat species available to hobbyists. While most species of woodcat are mostly a muted tan or silver color, the orca woodcat stands out with a stark white belly and a midnight black top separated by a wavey border. Such coloration gives credence to how they ended up being named after the famous black and white cetacean. Their elegant coloration is not the only reason the orca woodcat is so coveted. It also makes a great community tank member with its peaceful disposition and the fact it does not require a very large aquarium due to its small size. While the orca woodcat is very unique, it does have at least one lookalike, Centromochlus musaicus, the ninja woodcat. Both species sport black and white coloration making them often confused for one another, but there are ways to tell them apart. First is to find out where the fish came from. The orca woodcat is found only within the lower rio Nhamundá in Brazil while the ninja woodcat is from the upper and middle rio Orinoco in Venezuela. If you do not know where the fish in question is from, you can take a look at its pattern. The orca woodcat differs from the ninja woodcat in that the ninja woodcat does not have a white spot/blotch underneath the dorsal fin. The ninja woodcat also has far more black coloration while the orca woodcat has more even color distribution. While using coloration is not always a 100% accurate way to identify similar species, it can give you a good guess. Like with all woodcats, the orca woodcat is a shy, nocturnal specie whose large eyes allow it to have excellent night vision. In the wild, it spends daylight hour hiding in crevices of wood or amongst leaf litter, but cruises the surface at night looking for fallen insects to feed on. You can expect similar behavior from the orca woodcat in the home aquarium with them usually only coming out of hiding when there is food or the lights go out. Do not fret over them remaining completely still all day long as this is normal behavior. To encourage your woodcats to come out of hiding and feel safe, provide plenty of hiding spots with plants, leaf litter, and driftwood. Keep lighting to a minimum as well. Only housing them with other peaceful species that are not overly boisterous will also aid in their comfort. Since the orca woodcat naturally inhabits areas of warm, low flow, soft, and acidic waters, replicating these conditions will help keep them healthy and happy long-term. Being insectivores, they will appreciate a diet of frozen-thawed foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp, live foods like tubifex and blackworms, and prepared foods such as gels and sinking pellets high in insect protein. Use caution feeding foods with animal meat such as beef heart as this can cause the orca woodcat digestive issues if not limited to only being an occasional treat. If fed during the day, they will usually only go for sinking foods. However, at night you can sometimes have them feed on floating foods such as flakes. The orca woodcat, along with other closely related species, has been the subject of great scrutiny on what genus it should be placed in. Ever since its first scientific description in the 1970s, it has been moved back and forth between the Tatia genus and the Centromochlus genus. The most recent update occurred in 2020 with a study placing it in the Centromochlus genus so we shall refer to it as such for the time being.