Thanks for confirming this. I bought 3 of these, which were sold as S. ornatipinnis . That looked right to me, but I wanted to get an expert opinion, given the rampant availability of hybrids. I'm obviously quite pleased that they are "real". First time that I have ever been offered the chance to ...

I would like to get your opinion re identification of this species. Individuals are 4-5 inches. Thanks.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

Several years ago I bought a few catfish sold as Synodontis longirostris. They turned out to be hybrids. I still have them and they are about 6-7 inches long. Not as cute as when they were small, but not bad looking fish. As adults, mine all have basic brown body color with scattered small black ...

I don't have S. serpentis and haven't seen it. When the create-a-list feature was activated quite some time ago, I listed species that I had, as wellas species of interest to me. Perhaps that was my mistake, although I thought that was the plan. In any case, some of the species that now appear on my ...

My first tropical tank was a 20-gallon with metal frame when I was about 10 years old. I think that my first fish were a couple of angelfish with a green cory for the bottom. I also collected fish from a local lake during the summers as a kid, so my first catfish may have been baby Ictalurus. Can't ...

I have a 7-ft long tank and have grown out a few hybrids. Mine have reached 6-7 inches. None are as robust as my large Eupterus, which is only about 6 inches long, but seems larger due to its girth and high dorsal fin. Basically, as long as you feed them and give them places to hide, the hybrids ...

Thanks for the info. I turned down an acanthomias a few years ago due to fears that it wouldn't fit in with the rest of my flock. S. schall has the reputation of being one of the most aggressive of the synodontids and acanthomias supposedly isn't far behind. I have a large notatus (about 15 cm) and ...

According to the ScotCat fact sheet, acanthomias is very aggressive and grows quite large (12 inches plus in captivity, much larger in the wild).

I'm wondering what experiences people have had with this species and especially whether it behaves itself with other synodontid species in a large tank?

Whether it's a hybrid or a legitimate species, it looks pretty good to me. I'd buy one (which I suppose is why the hybrid market continues to thrive).

I don't believe that synos are venomous (i.e., the spine doesn't actually inject any poison). But whenever you get poked by a catfish spine, the wound generally gets infected with slime from the fin so you end up with a painful injury and it feels like you have been poisoned.

I have a 55-gallon tank that is hexagonal, so rather taller than one would prefer for catfish. However, several years ago I had a large eupterus and a large angelicus , both about 5 inches, in the tank with a few gouramis and larger tetras. No problems. The synodontids learned to feed upside down at ...

I have two large S. decorus, the biggest is @ 8 inches. They are in a 210 gallon tank with mild Africans (Protomelas, Aulonocara, etc.). I have a lot of other synodontids as well. The decorus are very mild mannered, to say the least. They mostly lie about in one spot, unless food is present, in ...

You are killing me with these great looking new species. Hopefully some will show up in my neck of the woods.

Thanks for the nice photos. Good luck with these.

I have a 210 gallon tank. For water changes, I vacuum the gravel and siphon water to the toilet in the bathroom adjacent to my fish room (about 15 feet of plastic tubing). I use a 30 gallon plastic trash can to prepare new water, which sits in the bathtub in the bathroom. I have a submersible pump ...

I've also purchased a few synos labelled as longirostris, but turned out to be hybrids. Mine started at 2-3 inches and soon grew to about 6 inches. They are in a 210 gallon tank with lots of other cats and don't seem to be getting much bigger.

You may have picked up on this already, but bear in mind that plants only produce oxygen when light is present. At night, they will consume oxygen. Therefore, it is possible that you would have depleted oxygen levels in a densely planted tank in the early morning before the lights come on and the ...

I started collecting local fish when I was about 8 years old. Also got into tropical fish around the same time. Read several Jacques Cousteau books and never missed a television special as a teenager. Learned to scuba dive at 16. Went on to get a master's in oceanography and have worked as a marine ...

No news on the ornatipinnis yet. I do have 3 large individuals (@5inches) of the hybrid species with the dark black reticulated pattern (see the aqualog article mentioned in the "Synodontis hybrid" thread from Sept 9th). Mine are even darker than the photo in the article and are quite attractive ...

I've seen these in a couple of local fish stores. These photos show a sad looking deformed specimen, but better formed individuals are quite attractive when they are small. I prefer not to purchase hybrids, but I wouldn't characterize them as a crime against nature. If anything, removing large ...

The whiskers don't look right to me for notatus, either. Mine is only 7 inches, and it has much longer barbels than this specimen. I have a couple of 5-6 inch specimens with a similar dark brown body and irregular spotted pattern which were sold as longirostris (but definitely aren't, as I've seen ...

It's difficult to ID fish from photos, but I really doubt that this is notatus. I have a 7-inch specimen with a single spot (which is quite large) and it has a very distinctive two-tone body coloration - white in the lower half, light brown in the upper half. I know that there are 0-spot, 1-spot, 2 ...

I may have an opportunity to purchase one of these from someone who's had one for a long time. Looking to hear about your experiences with this species. I've read that they are on the aggressive side and that they can get quite large. But the same could be said for some of my other synodontids. I do ...

I have two schoutedeni, one of the black and tan variety and one of the yellow-greenish variety. The yellow one is about 5 inches, the other about 4 inches. They are both very mild mannered and stay out of the way of the larger more aggressive individuals (e.g., angelicus, notatus). Not as timid as ...

Thanks for the responses. I've never seen one in person. I've been told that they are available from Africa, but the importer needs to buy 50 at a time. Perhaps a few will find their way to me one of these days.

I live in the Los Angeles area. Roundtrip to work is 90 miles (about 150 km for you metric types). However, in Southern California, when someone asks how long your commute is, we usually phrase the answer in time, e.g., it takes me an hour each way (if I leave the house at 6 am and leave work before ...

I am intrigued by the photos that I've seen of this species. The long dorsal fin, scissor-like tail and spotted pattern seem to be very appealing. However, I've read that it can be a mean little critter compared to many synos. Wondering if any of you have had experience with this species that you ...

I have several soloni. They do not seem to be very aggressive. Mine get along with angelicus and several other large, more aggressive synos (in a big tank). The soloni get a little bigger and are more slender and elongate than robertsi. Once you have seen both species, it's pretty easy to tell them ...

I have 2 robertsi among my flock of synos. They aren't particularly shy, and actually cruise around in the open more than many of the species that I have. They don't seem to be bothered by the bigger guys in my tank. They are in a 210 gallon tank, so there is lots of room to move around.

I bought two catfish as longirostris that appear to be very similar to your photos. Mine are about 4 inches now and appear to be some sort of hybrid.

I bought 3 petricolas several months ago. They were about 50 mm. They went into a 210 gallon tank with lots of other synos, including a couple dozen big guys (>125 mm). They are doing well and have doubled in size. I have lots of wood, so there are plenty of hiding places to choose from and they don ...