black and white catfish

[annie]

thanks

[jdt28]

Hi
It looks like Synodontis petricola to me but I could be wrong

[Richard B]

Synodontis granulosus or a hybrid thereof

If genuine it's a £100 fish, hybrids worth very little

[annie]

if i take him to the lfs now im worried they will say hybrid when hes not and then sell him for a big profit to someone who doesnt know how to look after him.

thanks. just looking at the photo library and it looks like hybrids dont have the all white whiskers, or is that just misleading.
ill try and get an hd picture. he needs to go to somewhere who knows how to look after him. i see he gets pretty big.

[annie]

just been around to see the stupid neighbour and without prompting she said and i qoute" i gave it to you instead of flushing it cos he paid £125 for the F*** thing.
i know this doesnt prove either way because he could have been missold but at least may be worth doing more research before asking lfs to take him or try and sell to some one responsible

[jodilynn]

If you go to the African cats thread check the "hybrids" thread, there is a pic of that particlular hybrid on there.

Man, if that is a S. granulosa you REALLY lucked out! Wish somebody would walk up to me and give me a syno!

[jodilynn]

That is the hybrid pictured in the thread.

There are multiple pictures of

Synodontis granulosus

off the species page, some clearly showing spots like your specimen.

Hopefully one of the experts on here will stop by and weigh in.

[annie]

have lots of hd pics. will upload later...
im 99percent its real. ... not interested in the money as i may still give him away . the thought of being responsible for such a rare animal is worrying. hes ok so far in a 200ltr with a pair of adult ellioti cichlids. lfs said they will id but im not taking him out in a bag to sit in traffic for hours

[annie]

thanks

[annie]

thanks

[Richard B]

Looks genuine from the newer photos. Young do have some spots, as in the photos, which disappear as they age.

In (my) photo which jodilynn posted above you can see the dorsal fin is not dark, clearly edged with white - it's more washed out which a lot of hybrids have

[jodilynn]

Sorry Richard didn't realize that was your photo, did not meant not to give credit where credit is due!

IMH(and totally non-expert)O opinion the fish looks like the real deal to me.

I believe the adult size is just under 10 inches.

[annie]

thanks

[racoll]

Yes, Ebay is a very bad idea in this case. You are contractually obliged to give the fish to whoever wins the bid, even if they have no clue how to keep fish or just want something rare for their discus or goldfish tank.

You are better off advertising here on PlanetCatfish in the Wanted/For-sale section, and/or on various Facebook groups. Perhaps this will take a little longer this way, but you will find someone good. It's a nice looking fish.

What is all the rush for? Can he not stay in the current tank until you find a better home for him?

[annie]

i promised hubby id close the 200ltr when i bought my new 400ltr. my new 400 is full of rainbow fish including some small varietys and they are all perfect examples and im worried he'll try and eat a few aswell as the odd neon i have.

im worried about posting for sale on the site as im a newcomer and it looks like im trying to flog something and im really not. if there was a local on here who can prove he has the room and the knowledge id happily sell him for £30-40 if they promised he was a keeper and not for profit.

[racoll]

Oh, and I think this is probably a hybrid. Body/head shape looks quite cylindrical, like a lucipinnis, and does not seem to have that high body and straight dorsal profile of the granulosus. Also, those dorsal and pectoral-fin spines are too white.

I could be wrong though. Stunning fish regardless.

[racoll]

im worried about posting for sale on the site as im a newcomer and it looks like im trying to flog something and im really not. if there was a local on here who can prove he has the room and the knowledge id happily sell him for £30-40 if they promised he was a keeper and not for profit.

Nobody here will think that, as long as you link to this thread and explain the history of the fish.

[annie]

tank has now sold and since no one really wants to stick their neck out and say if its real im going to take him to my nearest maidenhead that deals in cichlids. they think he's real. i cant vet the next owner so will have to take my chances with the fish shop tomorow.
thanks everyone for your help, it would have been nice to go to a catfish expert but i suppose most people think i must be a troll or similar.
annie

[racoll]

thanks everyone for your help, it would have been nice to go to a catfish expert but i suppose most people think i must be a troll or similar.

Not sure where all this negatively is coming from. It's certainly not us. We are trying to help. Nobody is thinking anyone is troll. We get these types of questions all the time.

since no one really wants to stick their neck out and say if its real im going to take him to my nearest maidenhead that deals in cichlids. they think he's real.

The thing is, it's really not easy to tell if it's real. It's not a simple yes or no answer. People are just stating their opinions. Hopefully a consensus will emerge. These hybrids are deliberately made to resemble the real thing, and if this is a hybrid, it's the best effort I've seen. I'm happy to be proven wrong though, and undoubtedly Richard B has seen more young granulosus than I have.

[annie]

its a shame no moderator or regular poster fancies taking a risk on him for their colection. im now convinced he is real and just want a good home for him. the shop admitted they would sell him but realised it was a specilaist fish and may take a while to sell

[racoll]

its a shame no moderator or regular poster fancies taking a risk on him for their colection. im now convinced he is real and just want a good home for him. the shop admitted they would sell him but realised it was a specilaist fish and may take a while to sell

Well, they may well do exactly that, but don't expect answers instantly (this is not Facebook!).

I am pretty sure he would cause no trouble in your rainbowfish tank were you to keep him in there temporarily for a few weeks. Synodontis are not really predators.

[bekateen]

Hi Annie,

If you've already given it to your LFS and they plan to sell it, I hope they reciprocated the kindness by giving you approximately 1/4 to 1/3 its retail value in store credit. I don't know how fish stores operate in your area, but every LFS I've ever dealt with has done so for me when I brought them fish that were sellable.

I understand that it wasn't your motivation or desire to manipulate this situation for profit, and you've already put in a good amount of personal effort for this fish without expectation of gain. But the reality is even if this fish may take some time to sell, if it's not a hybrid then it is a very valuable fish for the LFS.

Cheers, Eric

P.S.,

its a shame no moderator or regular poster fancies taking a risk on him for their colection. im now convinced he is real and just want a good home for him. the shop admitted they would sell him but realised it was a specilaist fish and may take a while to sell

Well, they may well do exactly that, but don't expect answers instantly (this is not Facebook!).

Annie, Racoll is right here. Many members here will go days (or more) without logging in here. So if you still have the fish and you can be patient, you'll probably get a couple of bites from Syno keepers on this site.

Cheers, Eric

[annie]

thanks

[N0body Of The Goat]

its a shame no moderator or regular poster fancies taking a risk on him for their colection. im now convinced he is real and just want a good home for him. the shop admitted they would sell him but realised it was a specilaist fish and may take a while to sell

Well, they may well do exactly that, but don't expect answers instantly (this is not Facebook!).

I am pretty sure he would cause no trouble in your rainbowfish tank were you to keep him in there temporarily for a few weeks. Synodontis are not really predators.

Troy disagrees, allegedly. ;)

Troy- Synodontis cf. budgetti

I bought Troy ~2 years ago, the sellers found him in the tank left at the house when they moved in ~3 years ago, not in a very good condition. They purchased some new fish, including some Neon Tetras and a pair of Kribensis. The tetras and cichlid fry started disappearing. They were convinced that ~16cm SL Troy was stalking the smaller fish at night!

But on the whole, I would agree, they are generally trustworthy. ~2.5 years ago I did some "fish juggling" and ended up with my Beckford Pencilfish group in with my ~22cm SL Synodontis notatus and despite me having a really bad night's sleep, all were present and correct the next morning (at which point I moved them so I could sleep better ;) ).

-----------------------

Annie, maybe try placing an advert on your local Facebook area, as well as Aquarist Classified, both are free sites. Someone with a Rift Lake setup might jump at the chance of a medium sized syno.

This syno would probably suit my African 6-foot tank pretty well, but I don't have a car these days to be able to give this lovely looking catfish some serious thought about rehoming.

[Richard B]

I would but you're too far away

[Richard B]

That said my 3 existing ones are in a hierarcy that is quite stable & I probably wouldn't want to upset the balance

[annie]

im still getting mixed reports about him eating my rainbows.. this is gertting a little stressful. im going for a good think but on balance i may have to give him away to lfs later.
im now entirely convinced he is a true s.gran. as ive now found out he was bought in havant 3 months ago for £125 at a cichlid specialist.

[amiidae]

My 5 & 7 inch fish.

[annie]

thanks

[N0body Of The Goat]

they truly are stunning fish. i really didnt think i would have a problem trying to give away such a rare and expensive fish to enthusiasts. maybe they arent as rare as people make out.

I've only been in the hobby ~5.5 years and as much as I have a fair few Mochokidae family catfish, of which Synodontis are part, one of biggest factors was nicely put my Richard's post.

In that most syno enthusiasts are likely to have other synos already and adding a new medium sized and potentially fiesty catfish to a tank can set off a whole domino effect regarding the established hierarchy, at least for a while.

I found out the hard way that you almost need to treat anything but the smallest and most peaceful synodontis almost like adding a new cichlid to an existing cichlid community, in that you need to have a significant hardscape layout change and for extra piece of mind, pull out all existing synos beforehand (and then add everyone back in quick succession including the newcomer that has ideally been quarantined for several weeks or more).

And do take my anecdote regarding my Troy with a pinch of salt, I did not know Troy's previous owners and for all we know, the Neon Tetras and Kribensis youngsters could have been dying due to other factors than Troy hunting them down. Like many fish, Troy could simply have been eating fish that were already dead. ;)

If your rainbowfish are bigger than this catfish's mouth, they will almost definitely be completely safe to mix together for a few days at least. With my ~21cm SL Chrysichthys ornatus that has a mouth that can expand to a circle with ~6cm diameter, they might not be safe for very long at all. ;)