True julii

eupterus · Post by **eupterus** » 29 Mar 2006, 10:52

does anyone know any shops selling true C julii. I have been to loads advertising julii but they all seem to be trilineatus. I have lovely group of these but cant find true julii. Have they really become that rare or am i looking in the wrong places?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 29 Mar 2006, 11:17

From what I understand, true Julii are very rare - they are apparently not just misnamed in shops and at wholesalers, but even the people collecting them seem to call C. trilineatus as C. julii. Where they come from is an important factor here, and C. julii apparently live in an area where not a lot of collecting for aquatic trade is going on.

--
Mats

kingborris · Post by **kingborris** » 29 Mar 2006, 11:50

I beleive Wildwoods in Enfield may have some true julii in stock (or at least i think they did last time i was up there)

eupterus · Post by **eupterus** » 29 Mar 2006, 12:45

I agree Matsp the wholesalers are definately selling trilineatus as julii but i didnt realise it stemmed back to the collectors. When did julii become so rare, they were everywhere 20 years ago.

Jorge · Post by **Jorge** » 30 Mar 2006, 09:27

C. julii is a very rare species. Usually they sell C. trilineatus instead.

eupterus · Post by **eupterus** » 30 Mar 2006, 10:28

Thanks Jorge, it interesting to find its not just a uk shortage. I am right in thinking they were once common, i know I was joung but i was mad on catfish then and i definiately remember julii being pale and lighly spotted not like the trilineatus. there were even refered to as leopard cats in some lfs

Post by **Coryman** » 30 Mar 2006, 12:28

I thought I would have two pennyworth here. Most of the so-called C. julii coming into the hobby are being collected in the Ecuador, Peru, Brazilian boarder areas and shipped out of Peru. These are C. trilineatus and it is the variation in colour patterns within this species that gives rise to some being called C. julii and some not, although these days you very rarely see any of these being called C. trilineatus in the trade for what ever reason, perhaps its one name that selling better than the other.

C. julii comes from the Rio ParnaÃba near Alto ParnaÃba in the south east area of Brazil, which is may be two and a half thousand miles or more away from the collecting areas for C. trilineatus. C. julii are collected in large numbers when they are collected, but with exporters trans-shipping fish amongst themselves it is very difficult to determine exactly where a fish has come from. However If you know that your so called C. julii have been shipped out of Belem or Rio de Janeiro there is a good chance that the ID will be good.

There are a couple of pointers when it comes to visual differences though. 1. the head shape of C. julii is shorter and more rounded. 2. The body width looking head on is slimmer, but here I would compare only males as females could be fat with eggs.

I hope this has shed a little light on a long time quandary.

Ian