Sturisoma's species

[Leon]

Hi guys, I'm new to the PCF forums, though I have been visiting this site for a long time now.
I have 3 spiecies of Sturisoma in my fishtank and really would like to know witch ones I have.
This is the first one, i bought this as a Sturisoma Festivum and it's about 18cm (almost 7.1 Inch)
So this would add up to the info I got from here.


The second one, my guess is a Sturisoma tenuirostre, but,.. this one is also around 18 to 20cm (7 to 8 Inch)
If I check the Sturisoma tenuirostre in the Cat-e-log I find that it wil get up to 15cm (or 5.9 Inch)


The third species is a lot like the Festivum I have but a bit smaller, I have 4 of these and all of them are about 15cm
Here's a pic of a male on a hatch of eggs from this week (the eggs are hatched and the babies transferred to another tank to grow )

I also got thes as Sturisoma Festivum, but i guess they are a different spiecies.
Some more pics, not as clear but you get the idea.




So your thoughts please, I would really like to know what species of Sturisoma are in my tank

[Bas Pels]

Although your fishes do look different from each other, I wonder whether they are, actually, really different

Here, in NL, we have quite a few Sturiosoma breederws, and chanses are, your fishes come from what may be named as 'the Dutch Sturiosoma genepool'. Most likely, this has been founded on more than 1 species

I myself have 3 (and 5 offspring) which look remarcably like S panamensae, but I know they have been bred in NL and thus I don't consider them as S panamensae, but as Dutch Sturiosoma

Still, you may have gotten wild-caught fishes. If so, the above does not apply.

[Leon]

Hey Bas, thanks for your input, however,... the difference between the first and 3rd species in the photo's is not only in size.
If you take a closer look at the (I think the) pectoral fins you can see the difference.
One thing I am sure about that this large sturisoma is a male.
The second spiecies I bought in germany under the name aureum, but i figured out pretty quick that it is another spiecies.
Actually I am am pretty sure that it is a Sturisoma tenuirostre accept the size issue It's really a big difference in appearal next to the other sturisoma's
The smaller ones could well be sturisoma's from the dutch sturisoma genepool but my guess would be the sturisoma sp aff festivum
I agree with you that species 1 and 3 look about the same, but if you see them next to another you can see the differences.
I will check my computer, I think I have a photo somewhere with the 2 spiecies next to eachother.

[Leon]

Finally made some extra photo's
The first picture is the 2 spiecies next to eachother, note the size difference.
Wondering if it could be the S.Festivum or maybe a S. Aureum?
The smaller one is not a juvenile, this is a breeding female.




Extra pic of the bigger spiecies, the dorsal fins are different.


Some pics of the smaller spiecies (sturisoma sp aff Festivum or S.Festivum?)




Hope you guys can help me out with this.

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

if I understood it right in your last post you are showing the same two specimen ?!
Both specimen are certainly not Sturisoma aureum, the dorsal and pectoral fins are too long. Also the snout profile does not fit.

But somehow they also do not look like typical Sturisoma festivum. The pectoral fins seems to be too short. But this pics are not perfect for a safe ID. I could imagine that these are hybrids which could explain why they are not equal in appearance.
Do you have pics where you can clearly see the paired fins including the filaments.

The second pic in your first post seems in fact to show a different species. But difficult to say something definite with this pic.

Cheers,

[Gertbl]

Some pics of the smaller spiecies (sturisoma sp aff Festivum or S.Festivum?)




Hope you guys can help me out with this.

This is exactly the same species that I have in my tank, shown in this topic:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 13&t=37851

I had two males en two females and gave a couple to Leon. But we both are not sure which kind of species it is. We bought them as Sturisoma festivum from a other person who had these guys in a Discus tank.

[Leon]

Hi, the second post with pics, these are 2 different species. I will try to make better pics soon and post them. In my second post the first pic is the 2 species next to eachother. There is a big difference.
in size. My guess for the smaller ones would be S. sp aff Festivum.
I would still like to know what species the bigger one is (pic 2 from the last post)

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

size also differs pretty much within one species.
If I understood it right the bigger one has 18 cm and the smaller one 15 cm, right ?

This is IMHO not relevant.
For Sturisoma I don't know any figures but wild caught specimen of Sturisomatichthys sp. "Colombia I" can be much bigger (~15 cm) than you will ever be able to get them in your tank (usually around 10 cm).
Although this might not be exactly transferable Sturisoma but at least they are closely related and size within one species can vary a lot.

Cheers,