Dwarf syno nigriventris?

[Reginator]

First off I'd like to say hi again to anyone who remembers me from about a year or so back. I've been absent for this time due to a change of home, province and girlfriend and the sale of my old tanks along with 99% of stock. Happily I'm back on track now, and have three tanks up and running, with more to come. Of my original stock I only managed to transfer my male ancistrus sp.3, a syno angelicus (affectionately called Gabriel) and a pair of syno nigriventris. The nigriventris have been with me for about 3 years now, and despite living in 200L tanks or bigger since they've been with me both have only reached about 30mm not including tail. Could they be a dwarf variety, is something wrong with them or are they going to get bigger eventually? I'm quite happy with them the size they are, and they seem in perfectly good health, so am I worrying about nothing? Thanks in advance for any advice,

Tanis

[Richard B]

I am not aware of a dwarf form of nigriventris although that doesn't mean there isn't one.

they aren't the fastest growing fish but i've certainly seen them bigger - in a really big tank (presuming they're with other fish) they'll not get all the food so max growth rates won't be achieved but you should witness steady growth - a little bit perplexing

[Birger]

That is a little small after that length of time,but even in a large group there can be one or two that seem smaller, I would think they may be a little skittish with the angelicus around, if they are in the same tank that is. They are possibly being dominated by the angelicus, I have kept the two together but in a large tank and there were more than one angelicus so they (the angelicus)would pay more attention to each other than to the group of nigriventris

hmmm and now I guess I/we should be calling them angelica due to recent discussions http://planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=23049

Birger

[Reginator]

My angelicus is possibly the friendliest of my cats, the nigriventris tend to swim about with the angelicus who totally ignores them, even when there's food about. The only aggression in the tank is when there's cucumber or courgette in there and that's between the ancistrus and congo tetras as both seem to love their greens. Currently my softwater river tank (240L) has the synos, the ancistrus, 6 congo tetras, a pair of dwarf cichlids (both males) and a pair of juvenile platydoras costatus. Decoration is bogwood and plants with plenty of hidey holes, I use RO water and drop the ph to a touch under 7 with peat in the filter, night-time feeding consists of sera wels chips and tropica wels granules, daytime feeding consists of tetra flake, cucumber/courgette twice weekly and every other day either some frozen artemia, daphnia or mysid (sp?) shrimp. Everyone is healthy and happy, no injuries or illness ever. The nigriventris did suffer a dose of ich once in their original tank soon after buying them but a spell in the hospital tank and aloe vera cured them of that pretty quick and they've never been ill since. In the three years I've had them they've grown maybe 8mm, in the same time the angelicus grew from 80mm to about 240mm and has pretty much always been either in the same tank or in one with near identicle conditions. Is it possible that they had their growth stunted in some way before I bought them?

[Richard B]

I think the angelicus dismisses them due to their small size as all angelicus i've kept tend to be among the more robust & aggressive synos although this trait can be reduced to virtually nothing depending on tank set-up & tank mates.

[Reginator]

Could they be syno contractus? I've only just come accross them in the cat-elog and am uncertain how to differenciate between them and nigriventris...

And gabriel really is an exceptional angelicus, has never shown the slightest aggression and is frequently chased off of food by cats a third his size (such as my male ancistrus sp.3). He used to come and sit in my hand to eat but seemed to grow out of that as he got bigger. He also lived with a pair of synos that I've never conclusively identified (probably hybrids) and even though they're nearly his size there was never any trouble between them. The only fish he's ever molested were my angels, and that seemed more playfull than aggressive...

[Birger]

Could they be syno contractus? I've only just come accross them in the cat-elog and am uncertain how to differenciate between them and nigriventris...

It is possible, the eye is noticably larger in contractus (contracta) the head looks larger as well but may be harder to differentiate

Birger

[Richard B]

nigriventris is a very variable species & contractus should be easy to tell apart - if there's any way to post a photo we could tell you for sure.

[Reginator]

Still trying to get a decent photo, they only rarely come out during the day and move like a pair of small torpedoes when they do....

[Richard B]

Reginator on Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:42 am

Still trying to get a decent photo, they only rarely come out during the day and move like a pair of small torpedoes when they do....

I know what you mean... cats can be annoying at times when i've got the camera out!