PlanetCatfish.com

Hello - I hope you can help. We inherited what I was told was a Schwarzi Cory who 2 years later has passed away. I would love to find more as he was a very handsome fish. I will post a photo if I can but the only one I have is very blurry I'm afraid. He was about 3 inches long, dark brown/black and mottled/spotty. The striking feature was the white edging to his fins and long white "whiskers". Any help in id'ing much appreciated. Many thanks, John

It's not a Corydoras, but looks like a lake Synodontis, such as ? These fish are better in alkaline set-ups with cichlids as opposed to a typical tropical set-up.
Hope this helps
Martin

Thats probably a Synodontis and not a Corydoras

Definetly synodontis.

I am no good with syno's, but could it be ?

yes! that looks very similiar, Synodontis polli. Many thanks!

At that size, it is most likely to be and is unlikely to be S. polli.

Jools

Both of their species pages say they get 3.9" long. So how do you distinguish them based on size? (not arguing, you are probably right, I just want to know)

I think S. polli get bigger, but that's a side issue. Compare the syno in the photo with the tetra in the background and indeed the size of the plastic plant root base. At the time the photo was taken that looks like a 1-1.5" fish (SL< the OP would maybe use TL). At that size, it would likely be a captive bred fish and that would likely be S. lucipinnis (or a hybrid).

Jools

I see.

With the white leading edge to the fins, this should be either syno lucipinnis or petricola, not polli. It could also be a hybrid fish.

Lucipinnis (formerly called dwarf petricola) are much more commonly encountered than petricola which are scarcer & can be quite expensive - a side on photo would help us give a firm ID