synodontis acanthomias, can anyone help?

[tomredman]

Hi,

I am relatively new to keeping fish, but I am hooked and have been doing a lot of reading up on the hobby. During my research I came across a little problem and I wonder if any one can help me.

I was sold what I was told was an upside down catfish as one of my first fish. I thought that this sounds like an interesting sort of creature so I had to have one in my aquarium.
However as I got more interested in the hobby I found myself looking at more and more pictures of upside down catfish that looked nothing like the fish I had bought. This is what has lead me to this great website. I have managed to identify it as a synodontis acanthomias using the pictures posted on this site. However there is no info posted about this fish. I wonder if anyone could give me any info on keeping it.

Cheers

Tom

[tomredman]

Having looked on the posts on this forum I am now completely confused as to what this fish is. Basically it lookes exactly the same as the pics under synodontis acanthomias on this site.

Help!!

Is it actualy going to grow that big, It is about an inch long at the moment. I feel a bit cheated if it will grow that big cos my aquarium is not big enough and It is my fave fish.

[Silurus]

When you say "posted on this site", do you mean posted in the forum or in the Cat-eLog? The fish identified as <i>S. acanthomias</i> in the forum is not the same as that of the Cat-eLog.
Do you also have a picture of the fish? We can probably identify it for you.

[SynoPetri]

How big is your tank?

[tomredman]

My fish looks the same as the S. acanthomias on the cat-elog.

Un fortunately I do not have a digital camera, but the fish really is just like the pics on the cat-elog.

My tank is 12 gallons, far too small for a 30cm fish.

[Silurus]

In that case it's more likely to be <i>S. courteti</i> and I'm afraid the only solution is to get a larger tank.

[tomredman]

Thanks Silurus.

I suppose that it is a lesson learned, dont trust anyone trying to sell a fish!!!!

I will probably have do donate it to another local aquarist , I don't have room for a tank big enough for a fish that size. Still it is only little now so it will be a while before I have to do that.

Thanks again.

[SynoPetri]

12 gallons is far too small. I would say 100 gallons as a minimun.

[tomredman]

Noticed something interesting last night. My catfish seems to have some sort of eyelid that he seems to use when the light is excesive. I have looked on the anatomy pics that Silurus posted on the site improvement forum but there is no mention of them.

I wonder if anyone could explain them for me, are they something that all catfish have, is it only some indevidual families/fish. What exactly are they for. I apologise if this is a stupid question but I am new to this and very curious.

I spent a good hour observing and even went as far as to try and reduce light to a minimum too see what happened and as he left his little cave he lifted the lids. I have to admit that I found it pretty cool.

[Silurus]

Fishes don't have eyelids. However, they all have a tapetum (colored reflective layer in the retina), which may have been what you saw (the tapetum is responsible for making the eyes glow in some fish pics). Or it may have been the pupils dilating.

[tomredman]

I dont think that it could have been pupils dilating, the eye seemed to go from a dark spot to a golden coloured (around the pupil (iris??)) from the top of the eye down. Pupil dilation would be a receding or increasing circle (wouldnt it?). Besides if it was pupil dilation it would happen the other way round(growing when the light darkened and shrinking when the light increased).

It must have been the tepetum then, and the way in which the light cought it. Unless they are able to move the tepetum? I dont know. It was a very clear change in the eye and it happened in the same way regardles of the position of the fish.

I didn't expect that fish had eyelids in the way we think of them, I was just trying to describe what I saw. I didnt know if they may have some sort of protective layer over their eyes, similar to that which some forms of reptile display. In a bottom dwelling fish I did not think that this would be wholy ridiculous. I am completely ignorant of fish anatomy, apart from that which I have learned from those on this site.

I have to say that the way in which those like silurus et al, clearly extremely knowledgable in the subject, answer questions posted by complete novices is great. I wish that there was a lot more sites like this, learning would be a lot easyer.

[Silurus]

That definitely sounds like the tapetum. The fish cannot move it (it's just a coating on the retina), but the tapetum is able to reflect light at more than one angle. The change couldhave been due to the angle of the light, or the fish moving its eye (such that light then becomes reflected off the tapetum).