Synodontis...?

[Ben, posts: 191]

Hello Folks!

I recently picked this fellow up from my LFS, and for the life of me have not been able to ID him seems to be some kind of Synodontis...I think.





Though you can't tell, he belly is bery white. He hides quite a bit, and is very intisocial. He's about 3 inches long. He does have wiskers, though you can't see them in these particular pics.

Any help would be great!

[Silurus]

That's not a <i>Synodontis</i>. It's a Zamora woodcat (<i>Auchenipterichthys thoracatus</i>). There's an article on it as Catfish of the Month July 2001 in Planet Catfish.

Heok Hee

[Ben, posts: 191]

Thank you Silurus, it certainly does seem to be the same beatie. Mine has been the midnight black since I got him a couple day ago. Very dosile, the other didn't even notice it's introduction to the tank.

Thanks again,

[Silurus]

They are great cats for the community tank (most auchenipterids are). Plus I like the way they hold out their kinked barbels when they swim around.

Heok Hee

[Ben, posts: 191]

I hope I get a chance to see it swimming around some. He seems a little odd...it's really a bit of a sad story. My LFS had a batch of these guys in, and thought they had sold them all, however this on had gotten himself wedged in the inside of a hollow ornament. They were forced to smash the ornament open to get him out. He had been in there for quite some time. Every time I went into the store I saw him all curled up inside a rubber tire ornament in a tank with Gold Barbs. He almost never moved. I felt sory for him, and always thought he was a great looking figh. I bougt him hoping he would be happier in an environment with some other cats.

They are great cats for the community tank (most auchenipterids are). Plus I like the way they hold out their kinked barbels when they swim around.

[Jools]

@Ben,

Keep an eye on the cat-elog, I will be posting pictures showing how to sex this species in the next week or so.

Jools

[Ben, posts: 191]

Great! Thanks for the heads up Jools!

@Ben,

Keep an eye on the cat-elog, I will be posting pictures showing how to sex this species in the next week or so.

Jools

[Silurus]

Ben,

The behavior of the your fish is typical for woodcats (auchenipterids). They typically like to find a small crevice to wedge themselves into because that's how they behave in the wild. They will leave their hiding places to come out at night to forage, so I think your fish was actually doing OK in the LFS.

Heok Hee

[Sid Guppy, posts: 757]

I used to have those back in 1986; a small group of them. They were shy, but became very tame after a while and could be hand-fed. Incredable hearing though; if somebody called me, while I was feeding, or I tried to show my brother; one word, and -WHOOSH- all in hiding.
When kept as a group they can be talkative at night! the first time my tank was grunting, squeaking and buzzing at night, I thought I was loosing my marbles

Later I tried the woodcats with some succes (oh, back for the good ol' days when Dutch LFS weren't allergic to non-pleco's or non-cory's ) these are much moisier and quite disruptive....crazy bunch.