Help identify my catfish, Synodontis Njassae??

[BHolmbom]

Hello there.
I posted a thread on a european Malawi ciklid forum for help to identify my catfish and got the tip to post it here

We bought two of this catfishes in a town nearby and the petshop worker did not know which type of catfish they are but they thought it was a Synodontis multipunctatus??

They lived in the malawi aquarium so we bought them, they are very beatiful.

I have try to identify this catfishes on google for several hours and the one i found it out to be is the Synodontis Njassae but the Njassae seems to be very rare so i am unsure about this.

Can someone help me identify this catfishes? Sorry for the bad pictures but they are really fast, maybe i try to take a photo with my system camera someday.

Greetings Björn

[Birger]

Björn

I need a complete side photo to be able to help you.

I believe it may be a hybrid.

Thanks
Birger

[BHolmbom]

Thanks Birger.
I shall try to take a full side picture, but its very fast and night active..

[BHolmbom]

Hello.
Here are 4 more pictures, i hope it will help you to identify my catfish..

Greetings Björn

[Silurus]

Synodontis sp_hybrid(1)

[Birger]

Yep, I agree hybrid.

Birger

[Viktor Jarikov]

Without any doubt Silurus is right, IMHO, this is the most common syno hybrid available under various made-up names like valentiana syno, jaguar syno, zebra syno, etc.

I have kept many of these and I think they lose most of their spots as they grow, although our resident syno experts have their doubt: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hilit=Krol

[BHolmbom]

Thanks alot!

Does they like the same ph value as Synodontis Njassae and do they like the same food?

How big will they be?

Do you know any habitat information about them?

Greetings Björn

[Viktor Jarikov]

They are a "plastic" fish, a man-made hybrid. Their habitat is a fish tank They appear a strong, viable hybrid that adapts easily to a variety of water conditions. I'd follow the general syno guidance or one that's found for, e.g., eupterus, ocellifer, decorus, etc., pretty much only avoiding the extremes.

My biggest is ~10 years old and around 9"-10" total length.

The general opinion here is that syno hybrids (of which there many now, a dozen or two widely available) are a highly regrettable phenomenon, produced in the name of chasing $$ in a very cruel way and polluting our hobby. Instead of keeping genuine species and learning about nature as it is meant to be, people keep unnatural animals and learn about "plastic toys".

Not the fault of the fish, of course. And yes, most keepers don't know and don't learn much at all about fish they are keeping. This site aims to change that... one keeper at a time It's wonderful that you are asking all these questions, so, don't get me wrong, please.

[BHolmbom]

Thank you very much for your fine information, i shall take good care of them