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But I believe you can verify if they are H wyckii or not, by the base length of the adipose fin on young specimens; no other large bagrids has such a long adipose fin base.
The length of the adipose fin in your photograph confirms to me that it is H wyckii
I ‘Doc I can’t stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home’
“That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.
‘Is it common?’
“It’s not unusual.”
Actually, let me recant. I agree with Silurus. I don't know what I was thinking earlier. For some reason, I read wyckii and it clicked in my head as H. wyckioides.
Mark
I still believe that it is , Hemibagrus wyckii; especially with that adipose fin.
Although I respect Silurus opinion (didn't you have one of these HH)
I suppose I will have to wait and see if it develops Hemibagrus wyckioides distinctive caudal fin.
I ‘Doc I can’t stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home’
“That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.
‘Is it common?’
“It’s not unusual.”
Not that i'm a kiss-ass to agree with Silurus but i thought NOT wyckii upon intial look - the barbels look too long & the head a little flat compared to the wyckii i've seen at small sizes - i have no comment about the adipose - if this is a key ID character, i'll stand corrected. What size is the one pictured?
Lou: Every young man's fantasy is to have a three-way. Jacob: Yeah not with another fu**!ng guy! Lou: It's still a three-way!
Interests: African catfishes and oddballs, Madagascar cichlids; stoner doom and heavy rock; old school choppers and riding them, fantasy novels, travelling and diving in the tropics and all things nature.
because I've seen many juvenile wyckioides, and the smallest i've ever seen was about 5" or so, and already it had a distinctive reddish or reddish brown tail.
not true red like (sub)adults, but still a recognizable difference between fin coloration and body coloration .
the coloration from caudal peduncle and tailfin differs.
this fish has a continuing slate grey coloration from body to fin and the white upper and lowerlobe, wich is typical of larger wyckii but not of wyckioides.
i've never seen any white in juvie wyckioides
except here in the catelog! 've got a strong hunch there's a number of photo's wrongly labelled.
I have seen the white procurrent caudal-fin rays in juvenile H. wyckioides.
I do not think this is a juvenile H. wyckii because the juvenile H. wyckii I have seen (granted the smallest is about 8–10 cm) typically have smaller eyes.
I've not seen wyckii smaller than 16cm which is twice the size of this one - so there may be physical characteristics yet to develop. I've seen plenty of supposed wyckioides (red tails) with no red whatsoever - very pale olive/salmon pink to various greys & then black. I wonder, from Sid's post, if they actually all were - it would have been interesting to compare them all side-by-side by impossible over 20+ years timespan!
I am not sure but i think i can make out caudal white edges developing in the pic which would lead me to reverse my earlier thoughts, but i still think the barbels look too long & the head is a little flat, even the fish looks a little too elongate for wyckii - perhaps it's the angle the pic is taken from?
I am really undecided & will keep an open mind on this - keep us posted as the fish grows & clearly the most important thing is that whichever it is, temperment is a known factor!!!
I see this post clashes with an update from Silurus but posting unedited anyway.
Lou: Every young man's fantasy is to have a three-way. Jacob: Yeah not with another fu**!ng guy! Lou: It's still a three-way!
We can certainly wait for the fish to grow a bit and then all weigh in again, but at first blush (before even scrolling down) I thought this was H. wyckioides as well. For the OP's sake I really hope it turns out to be H. wyckii but am doubtful it will. Regardless, husbandry requirements for juveniles of both Hemibagrus spp are the same, so an immediate and definite identification is really not that important at this point.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
Winston Churchill, My African Journey
Interests: African catfishes and oddballs, Madagascar cichlids; stoner doom and heavy rock; old school choppers and riding them, fantasy novels, travelling and diving in the tropics and all things nature.