Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
These 2 guys live in my 2 t tank. They were bought as upside down catfish and as juveniles were much like teh pictures of nigriventis. However they far exceed the length reported. Looking at dorsal finnage i'm sure i have a male and a female who spend much time playing chase around the tank pulling up a lot of plant.
apologies if teh pics are to large, they should all be under 256kb.
I've been advised that they may be eurupterous (sp?)
Hi & welcome to PC.
Your fish look like Synodontis nigrita to me. Check the Cat-elog (button in the upper toolbar); Synodontis can be found in Mochokidae.
Thanks guys for the tips. Will have to look at other pics as well now working of those suggestions. I looked at the 2 species you suggested on here and i'm not really convinced on either to be honest, atleast not from the pics i looked at on here.
Is there any easy way of differentiating between the species other than using a complex key?
The main reason i'm not convinced is the shape of the dorsal fin. Granted its a very large fin but none of those fish were photographed in a way i have seen my guys swimming. it doesn't make it easy.
They are probably close to 15 cms long, possibly longer. I had to net and move one recently and i don't recall any vocalising which some cats are reported to do. Neither did any fins get caught in the net, eg spines etc.
Both are quite dark under regular tank lighting, the flash i used last night has washed out the base colour somewhat really accentuating the pattern.
Whatever they are i love them.
They would be around 3 or 4 years of age and from what i have been reading i could have them in my tanks for much longer. I just wish i had the money for a larger tank for them than the 2ft tank, they deserve it. I'm considering converting this tank from guppies to Australian natives, i'm over the guppies they live with currently. I'd go Mollies but with catfish present i can't really give the mollies ideal conditions..ie, can't add to much salt. So its guppies, a lone tiger barb who behaves itself, a bristlenose, algae eater and these 2.
Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.