Adult Size of Otorongo Woodcat

by **Martin S** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:56 am

I've just seen Spinipterus sp(1) for sale at Pier, and wanted to grab some - am waiting on a call back for price and current size, but wanted an idea of adult size - it appears that it's not known!
Does anyone have a rough idea of adult size? They don't look like a big fish from the pictures...
Thanks
Martin

by **Marc van Arc** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:11 pm

Merely based on pictures I'd say this is not going to be huge, but I can't add exact figures.
I was told these were horribly expensive; hope you can have them for a good price.
Very nice species!

by **Martin S** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:37 pm

Marc van Arc wrote:Merely based on pictures I'd say this is not going to be huge, but I can't add exact figures.
I was told these were horribly expensive; hope you can have them for a good price.
Very nice species!

Thanks Marc, that's the same as I assumed (and I PM'd Amiidae who said the same). I missed out on a pair of Tatia strigata at the weekend (wet for more than I was willing to spend) but am determined to get at least a pair or hopefully a trio of these if the price is good enough.
Will let you know how I get on!
Martin

by **Silurus** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:49 pm

I kept some years ago and I recall them reaching about 12-15 cm SL. I don't recall that they were that expensive (otherwise I wouldn't have bought them), but that was at least 8 years ago.

by **Martin S** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:09 pm

Silurus wrote:I kept some years ago and I recall them reaching about 12-15 cm SL. I don't recall that they were that expensive (otherwise I wouldn't have bought them), but that was at least 8 years ago.

Thanks HH, that's useful - so about 5-6".
That's good, and no bigger than I expected. It seems they can be much more these days, but then again, I remember selling H.zebra and P.suttoni for a fraction of the cost of them today when i was in my late teens (so ~25 years ago)!

by **The.Dark.One** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:40 pm

I've ordered all these Martin. Picking them up Saturday.

by **Martin S** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:47 pm

Err I've already ordered 5 Steve!

by **The.Dark.One** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:04 pm

Sorry, there was a mistake, they meant to say they were all pre-ordered ;o)

by **Jools** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:01 am

As a slightly more educated guess, I'd say it wouldn't get larger than what we think is its only described congener. I think 100mm SL perhaps, 5" seems a bit too big. This is guessing on my part and if HH has kept them at 150mm SL then that's the best we've got.

Jools

by **Martin S** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:34 am

Based on the image of an adult, I'd guessed 5" would be more likely the biggest anyway, so smaller for me is better. I'm getting 5 at around 2", they are being delivered Tuesday next week

Martin

by **Jools** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:38 am

I had a look at them yesterday and most of them are about 4-5cm SL. There were a couple of larger ones maybe double that. I cannot see ANY sexual dimorphism. They weren't on sale yesterday as had just arrived (but looked very clean). I've ordered 6 on a fast horse to Scotland. Oh, and 6 Trachelyichthys exilis too.

Jools

by **The.Dark.One** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:01 pm

All bar one of the known Spinipterus acsi specimens (preserved and in the hobby) have been males. I'm not sure if that is coincidence or denotes that the sexes don't normally mix in the wild. Let's hope it is the former as it would be nice to get both sexes.
The smaller S. acsi were sexable at a slightly larger size than these specimens.
I'm going to have a good go tomorrow morning at picking some pairs out but it may not be possible.