syno granulosus warning (uk only)

[Richard B]

Just to let you know that on the Aquarists Classified site has an advert on for a S.Granulosus with a web-link to Planet catfish to illustrate the species. I have enquired about this & have received a photo of the individual fish which is clearly a hybrid.

Better be safe than sorry

[racoll]

I saw one in a shop the other day for £200 that I was a bit suspicious about.

[Richard B]

Cor, that's a bit pricey!!! (IMHO), can i ask where?

[racoll]

Don't want to bad-mouth shops in public (unless its deserved of course).

PM sent.

[Richard B]

Quite right too - thanks for the PM

[piggy4]

Argh , the hybrid trap , i'm afraid i fell into it about oooh cant remember exactly when ? maybe 8 or 10 years ago, got mine from Wharf Aquatics , though in fairness i think they believed them to be genuine ! £40 for an inch long specimen , still got the fish , its about 5 inches in length now , luckily it hides away so i dont see it to often ha ha , had it of been a genuine Granny then it would have been a bargain !

[Richard B]

Ah yes, i remember those at Wharf - they were supplied to them as grannys & sold them believing them to be just that, as we did not know what we do now - that is, babies are exact replicas of adults with white edges to the fins clearly visible - they do not appear as the fish grows.

[Haavard Stoere]

Are there hybrid producing fishfarms in the uk?

[MatsP]

Are there hybrid producing fishfarms in the uk?

None that I'm aware of. There are at least one in the Czech republic, and this gets exported all over Europe, and most likely also to other parts of the world. For most cases, the fish as sold as "tank bred" and under a scientific name that matches one of the parents.

--
Mats

[piggy4]

Yeah i agree , some people kinda condone this practice , personally i think its just a big con ! have you noticed they always use rare breeds to draw you in like Granulosus , Ornatipinnis , pardalis etc etc , apart from a few Synos i had from trusted sources , i'd say the Syno hobby has been spoiled by the hybrid's.

[Birger]

i'd say the Syno hobby has been spoiled by the hybrid's.

I do not know about spoiled but you definitely have to stay aware....makes it more special when you do find something decent

The funny thing is if it was all about the money they would probably make more breeding the true species with hormones...unless the people doing this just like playing god

Birger

[Richard B]

I am aware that the guy who genuinely did breed the granulosus at a uk importer/wholesaler was considering trying to cross some species but i don't know if it would be via a natural atempt or hormone related - also i know they have had hybrids for sale but whether they were bought in or bred & by what method i do not know.

I do know that the genuine granulosus spawnings stopped in the heatwave the other summer & that in each spawning there were not many eggs so few specimens per spawning

My lfs has said that they were only on the lists he receives on a couple of occasions

[syno-kev]

one good bit of advise i was told is that granulosus young are just like the adult with the white clearly visable on its fin edges, if the fin tips are transparent with no colour then they are hybrids and will not turn white as they get old ,
if it doesnt look like a granulosus then it will never look like one and its a hybrid.

[Richard B]

Exactly right syno-kev! see the pic on my details on the right hand side of this message!

[BarryCatfish]

The reason they choose to hybridise syno's and not naturally hormonally breed species such as multipunc's is because of the number's of young that can be produced.

Say a Multipunc produce's 50 eggs and a eupterus produces 500 (roughly) then breeding a male multipunc to a female eupterus will give them far more profits. Not a good practice for the hobby but great for their own personal gain.

Barry