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On Monday I was in a LFS and saw somebody point to a Synodontis macrops while saying 'I think that thing is disgusting.'

What does a Synodontis macrops look like?
I don't think I've ever seen one.

Anyway, most morphologically challenged is clearly any fancy goldfish, the pugdogs of aquaristics. Not even parrot cichlids or flowerhorns can compete with the horrid deformity of the fancier kinds.

I haven't been able to find a photo of macrops. The syno in question is about 20cm long, and all black with large black eyes. Not at all ugly in my opinion, but very nocturnal looking.

all black?

another Mystus mix up?

Not Mystus leucophasis, definitely a syno; but not one I've ever seen before.

maybe a youngster of Brachysynodontis batensoda; these can be very dark, almost black.

is it a highbuild fish, very flattened sides with huge eyes and a disproportionally large adipose?

or else it might be a young schall; I once bought a youngster, about 2" that "stood out" in a shipment of nigrita's; it was almost jetblack, velvetlooking with no spots or markings. once it passed beyond the 4" mark, it looked exactly like the schall we know from the books and the catelog. but it started out as a black Syno.

the great difference is their behaviour! batensoda's are very nice, easygoing peaceful fish; a bit twitchy even. schall is belligerent, bossy, nippy and very territorial to any other fish (even non-Syno's) when it comes to hiding places. mine used to terrorize 2 Bathrachoglanis raninus of similar size; no mean feat!

Definitely not a batensoda because the body shape is all wrong, but schall is possible. One thing that occurred to me is a nigrita, because I've seen very dark adult specimens of that; but I still think this fish had bigger eyes than a nigrita or schall.

Next time I'm there I'll take a better look if they still have it.

According to the people who visit my aquarium at the zoo...the most disgusting fish are the eels (because they look like snakes), the epaulette shark (because of her 'eye' marking), the blind cave tetras (because they're not neons), the male frontosa (because of his bulging forehead), the lima shovelnose (because of his whiskers), and the volitan lionfish (because of their fins).

However, I take these words with a gallon of salt, for these are also the same people who look at the marine betta, and casually remark that lots of people keep bettas like this one in jars with cute little flowers coming from the top of the jar.


Myself, I go with pretty much all manmade hybrids. And the fancier varities of goldfish. Bubble-eye celestial, anyone?

The Epaulette Shark is disgusting for some people???
if there IS such a thing like a cuddly shark; that's the one....very very cute.

I ran into one while scuba-diving and could almost touch it; very easygoing beauty!

on topic: I've never seen a black nigrita. dark yes, black no.
and they almost always are "smudgy", as in; there's still vague spotting or a marbled coloration visible, not a uniform color.

sidguppy wrote:The Epaulette Shark is disgusting for some people???
if there IS such a thing like a cuddly shark; that's the one....very very cute.

I ran into one while scuba-diving and could almost touch it; very easygoing beauty!

I totally agree, sid. Sweetheart is aptly named, takes her food via tongs, and is oddly enough somewhat active during the day. When she knows it's chow time, but that aside!

I don't think I've ever heard a decent word about her from visitors though. I get two reactions when she is seen:

1. Oh, that's not a real shark. She's too small to be a real shark. She's not very pretty either.

2. Ooooh, a BABY shark! See the other fish in the tank? Those are her lunch.




Then again, these are the same people who look at the marine frogfish exhibit, glance over the sign denoting them as camoflagued predators, and two seconds later announce that the exhibit is empty.