Synodontis id

[RDH]

Hi, I think I have 2 petricola and 2 lucipinnis, but would appreciate opinions. Below are (poor)pics of 3 of the 4 fish I have.

Petricola?

Petricola's

lucipinnis?

Have had a good look through cat e log and still not sure.

Comments appreciated

Rich
[Mod edit: Remove unwanted IMG tags. --Mats]

[Richard B]

How many pics are there supposed to be i can see 3 at the bottom but are there supposed to be 3 at the top?

[MatsP]

Richard, you are too slow - I've already fixed it before you posted...

--
Mats

[Richard B]

I can't be sure but the top 2 look like lucipinnis (labelled petricola) & the bottom one looks like an unidentifed species (labelled lucipinnis) - if these are from Fish inc, which tanks did they come from or how much were they? PM me if you wanna as this might clue me in to what tanks they were in, in the store which i can x-ref with species i saw

[RDH]

Cheers for replies.

They were all together in a tank lableeed as Petricola. Bought them last October so were not part of the current "batch" they have at Fishinc.

When I bought them I thought there were 2 different species, the one I labelled Lucipinnis I have 2 of, they are really "grey" in comparison to the 2 I thought were Petricola's.

The 2 different species don't spend much time in each others company (if that makes sense) which was another reason why I thought they were different.

Rich

[Richard B]

Richard, you are too slow - I've already fixed it before you posted...

--
Mats

tis old age creeping in i fear.....

[RDH]

Another pic of the unidentified Syno.

[Richard B]

Cheers for replies.

They were all together in a tank lableeed as Petricola. Bought them last October so were not part of the current "batch" they have at Fishinc.

When I bought them I thought there were 2 different species, the one I labelled Lucipinnis I have 2 of, they are really "grey" in comparison to the 2 I thought were Petricola's.

The 2 different species don't spend much time in each others company (if that makes sense) which was another reason why I thought they were different.

Rich

I'm particularly interested in the last one as the head shape is quite unusual

[RDH]

I'm particularly interested in the last one as the head shape is quite unusual

Can try and get some more pics if it helps, they are not particularly settled at the moment as the tank they were in started leaking last week, so had to quickly buy another and move them over.

Cheers for reply

Rich

[Mod edit: Fix broken quote --Mats]

[sidguppy]

these are all lucipinnis; the first 2 are juvies, the last one's an adult

lucipinnis is a very very variable species; but the best way to spot it is the relatively "short" body and the way larger and smaller spots are irregulary distributed on the body

the real petricola is much more elongated, it has the body proportions of, say, Synodontis brichardi, a much wider mouth and a very even pattern of spots; all spots are fine or all spots are large and a bit vague.
also: the large whiskers of a true petricola tend to be a fair bit larger than those of a lucipinnis.


still, don't be surprised it is sold as petricola; 9 out of 10 LFS don't know the whole petricola/lucipinnis issue and label all these as petricola's.
until quite recently even the scientists lumped all in petricola; the description of synodontis lucipinnis is just a few years old

give it a decade or two, then you'll see the fish properly labelled if they aren't hybridised out of the hobby.

[RDH]

these are all lucipinnis; the first 2 are juvies, the last one's an adult

lucipinnis is a very very variable species; but the best way to spot it is the relatively "short" body and the way larger and smaller spots are irregulary distributed on the body

the real petricola is much more elongated, it has the body proportions of, say, Synodontis brichardi, a much wider mouth and a very even pattern of spots; all spots are fine or all spots are large and a bit vague.
also: the large whiskers of a true petricola tend to be a fair bit larger than those of a lucipinnis.


still, don't be surprised it is sold as petricola; 9 out of 10 LFS don't know the whole petricola/lucipinnis issue and label all these as petricola's.
until quite recently even the scientists lumped all in petricola; the description of synodontis lucipinnis is just a few years old

give it a decade or two, then you'll see the fish properly labelled if they aren't hybridised out of the hobby.

Thanks for the reply, interesting points, will look for some pics of adult lucipinnis. I have to say "in the flesh" the fish look and act quite different.

Appreciate your comments

Rich

[Richard B]

I'm keeping an open mind on the last pic - it is very similar to lucipinnis indeed & may well be one for the reasons Sid states but i'd like some measurements of all the fish & further side pics of the 3rd one, close up of the head would be good

[RDH]

Will try and get some better pics.

Have just started keeping Syno's again, I had nigrita's,flavaeteniata and saved up all my pocket money for an angelica when I was a kid.

Never realised it was such a minefield with mis-identified species,unknown species and then of course there are the hybrids.....

Went to a franchised aqutic dealer last week to buy a new tank and all the syno's were hybrids!!

The articles and discussions on this site are really interesting, I will be looking very closely at Syno's when I visit aquatic shops. Want a few more rift lake species for my tanganyikan set up.

Thanks for the input guys......appreciate it

Rich

[Richard B]

Just be aware that there are some very realistic hybrids out there - i mean a gnats whisker away from the real thing.

Hey why don't you see if you can make a PC day out? It is great meeting up with other members & discussing what we see. Alternatively give me a shout as i have a bit of spare time...

[RDH]

Just be aware that there are some very realistic hybrids out there - i mean a gnats whisker away from the real thing.

Hey why don't you see if you can make a PC day out? It is great meeting up with other members & discussing what we see. Alternatively give me a shout as i have a bit of spare time...

Would like to to meet on a PC day out or something, would be interesting to speak to other fishkeepers.

Have to admit I am now a bit paranoid about buying anything else, will keep reading the articles/threads on here.

[Richard B]

Just be aware that there are some very realistic hybrids out there - i mean a gnats whisker away from the real thing.

Hey why don't you see if you can make a PC day out? It is great meeting up with other members & discussing what we see. Alternatively give me a shout as i have a bit of spare time...

Would like to to meet on a PC day out or something, would be interesting to speak to other fishkeepers.

Have to admit I am now a bit paranoid about buying anything else, will keep reading the articles/threads on here.

I am ultra cautious unless it is something i'm totally comfortable with, but there are some great retailers out there. All i can say is if in doubt, go without - or get some "expert" advice. Another thing might be that if the bargain seems too good to be true, it probaly is...

So, look forward to seeing you on the next PC day out