PlanetCatfish.com

Hello, new to the forum. I tried to get an id over on cichlid-forum and they suggested to try here.

I have a 125 gallon African Cichlid tank with around 20 cichlids. I have 7 synodontis multipunctatus and this guy. He is my oldest cat and was transferred from my old 55 to this tank. I bought him at a LFS around 3 years ago and they had him listed as a synodontis eupterus, however after looking at pics on the net I know it's not. It likes to swim vertically like this and also upside down. Also, his fins have not been damaged they have always been short. It's about 6.5 to 7 inches long.

Also, why doesn't this site let you type c.i.c.h.l.i.d

At first look I am thinking it is one of the species from the area around the Okavango and Zambezi ... but I need to do some more looking but not until tomorrow for me to be able to...

Good looking fish!!

Also, why doesn't this site let you type c.i.c.h.l.i.d

http://www.planetcatfish.com/faq/index. ... opular=yes

Birger

It's most similar to , although I'm not 100% convinced it is (the color pattern is more reminiscent of S. vanderwaali, which has a smaller adipose fin).

The dorsal fin is not naturally that shape. It is either a natural deformation or has had damage that has not regrown.

As far as ID goes i'm very puzzled. Is it a wild caught fish? The shape of the adipose fin is quite distinct & should be a good key to help find an ID but there is little i am aware of which comes close. I considered a few...

S.Melanosticta - adipose is about right but head should be longer, pattern less defined
S.Nigromaculata - variable species, body normally elongate, smaller eye
S.Polystigma - adipose wrong, no spots on head, spots to fine & frequent
S.Thamalakanensis - smaller eye, different humeral process, different patterning
S.Vandewaali - wrong adipose, pattern less distinct
S.Woosnami - possible similarities but adipose much smaller

Let's hope someone else has some good suggestions.....there is always the possibiity of a hybrid & there are some sound lines of reasoning for this but even this is not a certainty

Am i right in thinking that the belly is also spotted?

It's most similar to Synodontis nigromaculata, although I'm not 100% convinced it is (the color pattern is more reminiscent of S. vanderwaali, which has a smaller adipose fin).

These were my feelings as well, I went straight to S.vanderwaali and then migrated to S.nigromaculata(was just very recently nigromaculatus)
I feel it closely resembles the S.nigromaculata drawing in Poll's revision but as Richard mentioned the dorsal is shorter and the first spine does not seem thick enough..."but" it has been living with cichlids although there does not appear to be any damage on the dorsal.The eye seems larger as well.
Would there be a chance to get a mouth pic with barbels from underside.

I shot a little video to see if that helps. I don't know why it looks a little blurry, looks fine on my computer and on the camera. I guess uploading it to you tube caused it to look crappy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6JCT5spMGc

The dorsal looks better in the vid, but the pectorals look very small, or damaged.

It is a striking looking fish, but i am no closer to knowing what it is.

Did you find out if it is wild caught?

Richard B wrote:The dorsal looks better in the vid, but the pectorals look very small, or damaged.

It is a striking looking fish, but i am no closer to knowing what it is.

Did you find out if it is wild caught?

I'm not sure if it was wild caught or if it was tank raised. I bought it over three years ago at a aquarium/fish store.

Did the pattern change as it got bigger or was it this pattern all along? I am thinking it has been this way all along.

If it was a hybrid it would have been a good looking one which we should have seen more of by now.(not saying it is or is not a hybrid at the moment but just sort of thinking out loud)

Birger wrote:Did the pattern change as it got bigger or was it this pattern all along? I am thinking it has been this way all along.

If it was a hybrid it would have been a good looking one which we should have seen more of by now.(not saying it is or is not a hybrid at the moment but just sort of thinking out loud)

Ya, pattern has alwyas been the same since he was smaller. If it is a hybrid it will be the end if his line then, because it doesn't have a mate, and I highly doubt it will mate with my multipunctatus.

lightningfront wrote: Ya, pattern has alwyas been the same since he was smaller. If it is a hybrid it will be the end if his line then, because it doesn't have a mate, and I highly doubt it will mate with my multipunctatus.

I don't think it would breed with the multis. Even if there was a mate for it (genuine or hybrid) breeding isn't easy with a lot of synos so unlikely we'll see offspring. You could try getting lots of close-up photos & sending them off to someone like seegars to see if there is an opinion he'll offer but i don't know how you'd go about that?

[Mod edit: Fix tag brackets --Mats]