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I found today three Synos from one LFS. They came as hybrid but i'm not so sure they are. They are about 13-16cm TL and less than three years old, when they have been imported wholesaler has said that they are petricola. Odd thing about these ones is that they have a dark spot above humeral process. I havent heard that it can found from hybrids but correct me if i'm wrong. And there is not so many Synos that have this dark spot. S. punctifer looks similar but there is not so many reliable pics of it, so Chrysichthys how does these looks comparing to your punctifer? Any other suggestions?

Here is some pics, sorry about quality, i had only my cellphone camera. Caudal fin is bigger than it looks in photo, i couldn't get any good photo of it. Going back to LFS at thursday so i can get some more pics.

Initially these looked like a variation on the petricola x nigrita hybrid which i think is hybrid 2 in cat-e-log but as i scrolled down i think it is something else. That said i don't know what

Where did the wholesaler import from?

I have seen fish like this very similar in Germany

strange thing was: i thought they were Synodontis nigromaculatus and the salesperson was very honest, he said "no these are hybrids, not a real species"

this was the first time that i had a reversed opinion; I was pretty sure they were a genuine species.
still I'm notr sure, he might have mixed the tanks.

these don't look like there's any Riftlake Syno involved in the breeding, and also no decorus or eupterus or angelicus or nigrita.
those species are among the usual 'parent species' for hybrids.

I'm really out of any clue on this fish. it might very well be a true synodontis.
I see no deformities, no lumpy heads or bulges or bent spines.

I would have went towards the punctifer, bastiani types.

What is the shape of the caudal...deeply forked?

This is a tough one.

Just a thought, If hybrid maybe part melanosticta, but that is a bit of a long shot.

Birger

Richard B wrote:Where did the wholesaler import from?

From all over europe and cause these came few years ago it is not possible to solve origin .

sidguppy wrote:I'm really out of any clue on this fish. it might very well be a true synodontis.
I see no deformities, no lumpy heads or bulges or bent spines.

For me it's the same, i have seen hybrids like this but like you said there is no typical hybrid signs in these. And is it possible that hybrids can have that dark spot above humeral? I haven't seen it before in any hybrid that i have seen. Or is it possible only when both parents are from "dark area above humeral family"?

Birger wrote:I would have went towards the punctifer, bastiani types.

What is the shape of the caudal...deeply forked?

This is a tough one.

I have one bastiani type of syno but it's totally different coloured, more like silvery. I just got it week ago and i don't have any photo of it yet. But it has the dark area above humeral too and it looks genuine too. But i'm not sure yet if it is bastiani or something else. I'll return to this issue later.

Caudal is pretty long and deeply forked but not as much as drawings of punctifer. But i will take some more photos of these in thursday when im going back to LFS.

Is it possible the terms "captive bred" and "hybrid" are being mixed up and this is an example? I've now seen several examples of captive bred species which are being imported from similar sources to the hybrids.

Jools

jippo wrote:Chrysichthys how does these looks comparing to your punctifer?

They look a lot like mine but I can't say with 100% certainty that mine are punctifer; they were contaminants in a nigrita shipment, and that was my best guess.

If you look at the Cat-eLog pics of punctifer you can see the spot above the humeral process that you mentioned.

I went back to LFS today and got some(bad) photo from caudal. And this wholesaler do import fishes from africa too so there is a chance that they are genuine. I have called them few years ago and i was checking what new is coming from africa, i just didn't know that this one was the same wholesaler. They came two-three years ago as a 2-3cm juveniles.

Is there something wrong with the "face" of the one in the last set of photos - it looks small & flat, tiny head, big body, massive tail - very unlike the first set of photos

Nothing wrong, it is just going other direction. I tried to take photo from tail and you can believe it was not easy. So i took almost 50pics and these are the best ones .

looks very much like my syno-nigromac"

I have been thinking about these ones and i'm going to buy these. I haven't found even one photo of hybrid which have that dark area so i hope that i'm right about these ones.

But if you have a better info please let me know.

I've seen many, many hybrids & variations of hybrids.

I can only state i've not seen this species or hybrid before before. I only hope this is genuine, for you.