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Is it really a synondontis nigriventris?

No, looks odd, let me look a bit.

Birger

Look at this, see what you think

I took the liberty to flip your picture around

I'm leaning toward what Birger is saying. I know its a young fish but caudal pattern is not right, whiskers, eye… Can you post a ventral pic?

a ventral picture:




Excuse the quality, but it is taken with a tel

Looks like a young , no?

well reticulation on the belly pretty much rules out S. negriventris And the dorsal pattern and shape, and body reticulation just doesn't say S. eupterus. This is still a young fish but I still lean toward S. sp lower guinea. It would be interesting to see this fish in a years time.

I shall try to post some other photos of this fish, which grows rather fast.
It's now approximately 10 cms and is less fearful.

naturalart wrote:And the dorsal pattern and shape, and body reticulation just doesn't say S. eupterus.

In adults yes, but this looks to be a juvenile individual.

These young S. euptera do not look dissimilar:





How much did the fish cost, what was it sold as, and what kind of store was it bought in? These facts might confirm or rule out a wild-caught origin.

which grows rather fast.

Well there is a hint if I ever saw one (fastgrowth = eupterus), It does look very much like the but as that recent paper on cories showed looks can be deceiving, the pattern in the dorsal looks right for it but the fringes on the dorsal are a bit of a giveaway to eupterus...I was originally hoping the OP would make some comparison as he has the fish right there.
Of course growing it out for a couple months would show right away, and the questions brought up by Racoll would be pertinent as the guinean fish is rather uncommon.

I was recently looking at the listings from African Exotics and I think they did have the guinean fish listed, it is not on there now though.

Juveniles are a pain...many species look similar when young so it would be nice if the OP does come back with a picture down the road a few months.

Birger

racoll wrote: How much did the fish cost, what was it sold as, and what kind of store was it bought in? These facts might confirm or rule out a wild-caught origin.

I commanded them as synodontis nigriventris at a wholesaler, at the price of 6€ (approximately $8) each.
I have 6 of it for approximately 4 months, they measure at present between 6 and 10 cms and swim rarely back to front where from my doubts...

some new pictures

Oh, I get it. So the 1st pic was taken a while ago and you just now posted it, correct? Your 2nd pics are to large for me to see the fish completely but what I can see definitely says S. eupterus.

Now if these were different fish from the same batch, then the 1st fish could still be a 'contaminant'. And at this stage, I would still think the 1st fish S. sp. lower guinea.

But if they are the same fish, then you've most likely have got a great S. eupterus on your hands. Thats based on pics and behavior.

In reality these 2 photos are of this week...

If the photo is too big, it is possible to open it in another window with the right click ;)

They are all identical, but swim on the back only under of leaves or woods, otherwise they like searching the ground with their barbs.

thanks for the tip on the right click box.

I was comparing the single pic you posted at the very beginning of your post with the 2 pics you posted on 4/13.

I've seen similar ones here too sold as euptera, having wavy stripes, not dots. always small, 1"-2" TL. always wondered why they look different from adult euptera but also from other small euptera that look closer to adults - I am talking color pattern, body and fins.

They make now approximately 15-16 cm and have really the drawing of the eupterus.

So the guys had the right hunch. I was really hoping for the Synodontis sp`lower_guinea` - Birger's first match looked so close to my untrained eye - but alas.

Euptera are fun fish too. Some members have been reporting (sudden or not) problems though:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... ilit=+syno

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... ilit=+syno

Anything like that with yours? You said you got a group of 6?