WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

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TalenT
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WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by TalenT »

A wholesaler here in Sweden has just added "Wild Caught Synodontis sp. 'Kenya'" to their list.
Sadly, there is no photo but the size is said to be between 8 and 12 cm.
Does anyone here on PC have a guess on what species this might be?
I did a search on freshwater species of Kenya and found Synodontis serpentis having roughly the same size.
For the average customer the price is set to 357 Swedish Kronor = about 35 USD.
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Jools »

No idea, but a few of us would be interested if you find out more or get pictures.

Cheers,

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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Birger »

I always have a hard time when a store advertises "Wild Caught" For example, I have seen among others, tanks full of "Wild Caught Albino" African Aulonocara cichlids. I realize they just call them what the exporter labels them as but research is very much needed before believing, as you are doing here.
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Bas Pels »

Birger wrote: 18 May 2020, 18:49 I always have a hard time when a store advertises "Wild Caught" For example, I have seen among others, tanks full of "Wild Caught Albino" African Aulonocara cichlids. I realize they just call them what the exporter labels them as but research is very much needed before believing, as you are doing here.
must be caught wildly :))
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Tropicalfishtt »

used to live in kenya a long time ago and was part of the Aquarist Society of Kenya...i had kept two synodontis from l. victoria...one was grey blue with black dots and the other was chocolate brown with yellow squiggles...i would have to go back in my notes to see what they could have been...cant remember any names off the top of my head...would be good if you had a pics
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

It'd be interesting to see your photos too, to know the species and read your stories.
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Jools »

The brown one would be , the other probably . Always interesting to read stories from where these fishes come from!

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TalenT
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by TalenT »

Late answer:
The same wholesaler have both Synodontis afrofischeri and Synodontis victoriae on the list, which would suggest that these .sp "Kenya" are something else.
Just checked their website, still no photos.
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Kryptic »

I stumbled across this thread few months ago and immediately realised wich wholesaler and fish was in question.
I had ordered both Synodontis afrofischeri and victoriae from them but didn't dare to oder the sp. kenya because I wasn't sure if any of those fish were genuine. Both of the fish I odered proved to be genuine species although I think that the victoriae is actually S. ruandae. Time went by and I forgot the whole sp. kenya fish. Until I saw this thread. I decided to see if they still have it listed... and turns out even after a year or so they still have them. So I decided to order one.
Here are some pics I've managed to take of him (sorry for the dirty glass). My guess is that IF the fish is actually WC it is either S. zanzibaricus or rukwaensis. What do you guys think? If you want more pics of him I do have plenty!
Attachments
IMG_5210[1].JPG
IMG_5213[1].JPG
IMG_5216[1].JPG
IMG_5243[1].JPG
IMG_5244[1].JPG
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TalenT
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by TalenT »

That is really interesting! Feel free to post more pics (and of the other two species too if you want).
I just checked, and "sp. Kenya" and S.victoriae are still on the list.

S.afrofischeri has disappeared though.

I didn't know that the Sweden-based wholesaler deliver to our neighboring countries. Nice.
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Jools »

TalenT wrote: 18 Dec 2020, 22:32The same wholesaler have both Synodontis afrofischeri and Synodontis victoriae on the list, which would suggest that these .sp "Kenya" are something else.
Sorry for the confusion, I was answering @Tropicalfishtt question and not the OP!

Cheers,

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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Kryptic »

The fish sold as Synodontis afrofischeri were indeed genuine, but the fish being sold as S. victoriae proved to be a S. ruandae or at least the one specimen I got. Sadly I lost that fish few days ago because of a local heatwave, I'll attach some pictures of him here. The sp. "Kenya" seems to be something of the zambezensis/zanzibaricus complex. I'm leaning towards it being zanzibaricus, mostly due to the location provided being Kenya but then again who knows if these fish were actually collected from Kenya. And again I'll attach some photos of this fish as well. I would definitely want to know if the rest of the so called S. victoriaes are also ruandaes and what are the rest of the sp. "Kenyas". So if someone has room in their tanks please order some and post some pics!
Attachments
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
Synodontis ruandae
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Re: WC Synodontis sp. "Kenya"?

Post by Kryptic »

Had to do an other reply to post the pics of the Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus! Also I noticed that S. ruandae only has drawings as pictures on the site so if my pictures are good enough you guys can use them.
Attachments
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
Synodontis cf. zanzibaricus
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