Looking for a good home, can you help?

[kipper]

Hello, I'm not realy a forum user but I was a catfish nut back in the 90's, I kept allsorts from cory's to redtails. I know a bit about cat's but it's probably a tad out of date now.

My reason for logging into this great site is to rehome a couple of cat's I've ended up with, a good mate of mine died recently so I now have what's left of his fish colection in a tank in my garage. (well cared for but going to waste)

I'm posting this on the african catfish bit because the star of the show is a syno decoras (decora?) It's not a hybread, I garentee it! It's about 6" long, with a dorsal extention to the tail root. It realy is a belting fish. There is also a very old cory sterbi.

Now the bad news, whoever wants them has to take a 8" common pleco (sorry) but all 3 are free to a good home. I'm in yorkshire by the way and you have to collect (sorry again) I will make you a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich if you come from miles away. I just want them to go to a good home.

Thanks for reading.............Kipper

[andywoolloo]

sorry re your friend.

I 'd love to have them all. espiecialy the tea and bacon sammie and decorus if i lived in your country

good luck to you on finding them a home. your a good friend to your mate, I am sorry on their passing.

[Richard B]

If you cannot find a home locally, let me know & i'll sort something out, but please give prior consideration to others

[kipper]

Thanks Richard, and Andy, idealy it would be easyer for them to go localy but anywere with a fishkeeper that knows what there doing will be better than the local fish shop. (it's not very good)

Again sorry about the plec, (I know nobody realy want's them) I'll keep looking in to see if anyones interested, theres no rush, the fish are in good nick now. They were a bit worse for ware when I got them as my mate spent quite a while in hospital before he passed, his partner thought a weeks worth of food would last a week, so the tank was a mess. Say's alot about the durabilaty of plecs and synos! The cory was part of a large group that died with most of the other fish he had. It's in good shape now, grown it's fin's and whiskers back.

Like I said I'll keep looking in for any progress. I tend to have a gander every now and then anyway, just to see any new spieces this site posts. Thanks again.

Best for now, Kipper.

[MatsP]

Many shops will take the odd large pleco in. There are always some fishkeeper with a large tank and large cichlids that need something that is sturdy enough to cope with the cichlids.

Unfortunately, I'm currently downsizing, or I'd take your S. decora off you (and the sterbai could certainly go with the rest of the lot I have - although I do sell the fry and the odd adult from time to time).

--
Mats

[kipper]

MatsP, Thats a bit of the problem, the "LFS" was happy to have the syno and cory, but the plec was a no no. I think they had at least 4 or 5 about the same size and bigger allready, they were in a sump and did'nt look like they were comeing out of it anytime soon.

By the way, why do you put a star in the plec spelling and change it to pl*co? I worked the lfs and chiclid thing out (I think?) I know this is probably a daft qustion.

Back in the day a plec was a plec. How come the "O" on the end?

You can probably tell it's a while since I kept fish!

[MatsP]

The * in pleco and cichlid is documented in the Forum FAQ (link in the Help! menu).

Is there no other LFS nearby that could take the fish, then?

As to plec vs. pleco - I think that has changed - I think there is some discussion about it in the article "You say pleco..." in Shane's World (you may need to click the "All" in the Catfishology section to find it.

--
Mats

[kipper]

Sorry MatsP, I should of dug about on the site a bit more, but like I said I don't realy keep fish anymore. I just thought it easyer to ask.

Most of the stuff I thought I knew has changed, a good example is the spelling for syno decorus, I'm sorry but it's still "decorus" in my head. I guess thing's change faster than me.

A good one for you though, I once had a syno sold to me as a polystigma, never seen anything like it since. (in the fleash or on the tinterweb) Wish I a a picture of it as it looks nothing like any syno in the catalog. If you think of a syno brichardi with the markings of a leiarius marmatus? That is the closest I could describe it.

I have hunderd's of old photos of catfish that would probably interest you, no flashy pleco's (they were'nt around then) But odd stuff for there time, even have sighned loseleaf copys of "catfish of the world" by David Sands! Thats how out of date I am!!!

[MatsP]

Synodontis polystigma is still a valid name - we don't have it in the Cat-eLog, so I presume it's not commonly traded these days - this can be caused by political, social or economic changes in the country it originates from - like many fish from the Republic of Congo are now hard to get, because Congo is in such a dire situation with war going on and such, people who can catch fish don't sell them for export, they sell them for food. Actually, checking S. polystigma comes from the republic of Congo.

--
Mats

[Birger]

If you think of a syno brichardi with the markings of a leiarius marmatus?

They are a valid species and that is a good way to describe them...and you had a real one, is there a picture of this one in your old pictures?

Birger

[kipper]

Birger, Sorry no, (wish I had) it was a long time ago and all pictures were expencive to get developed, not to mention the price of the film. Me and a couple of mates that were into cat's at the time would have to strip a tank down to catch the fish and transfer them to a photo tank to get anything like a good result. You guys got it easy with all this digital malarky.

I will have to dig out the pics and see what I do have. One I know that is interesting is a fish that is identical to juvanile pics of a jau/zungaro you have in the catalog. Differance is mine topped out at 7", never grew any bigger, kept it for 4 years and it was 6" when i got it. Very agresive fish, it ended up haveing to live with my 2 foot red tail at the time and it held it's own. (the redtail was actualy bullyed by it!)

I could go on, but would probably bore you with tails of yore! Loveing the banter, brings back memorys, thank's guys.

Kipper.

[jippo]

I could go on, but would probably bore you with tails of yore! Loveing the banter, brings back memorys, thank's guys.

Kipper.

Just go on and tell us more, it's always nice to hear stories about cats. And you are an "old school" hobbyist so it's fascinating to hear how it has been back in the days. There has been so much special synos years ago that we can't see anymore.

[andywoolloo]

yes, please, more stories.

[kipper]

Jippo, As Syno's go only longirostris (my spelling may be bad as it's late now) and a big grey job stands out. The big grey job used to come in by the bucket load, at about 2 to 3", they grew like a pim/bagrid,(fast) to 12" or so then slowed up. They were not aggresive just big. The pic of a syno schall in Dave sands syno book is the fish, we grew them to well in excess of 15". I recon 2 foot at least for the finished fish. In comparison the longirostris growth rate was like watching paint dry! Had one for 7 years and it went from 4" to 6" in all that time. Maybe I was doing something wrong though? like with food and water quality? Info was hard to get hold of back then.

I remember the first syno brichardi I saw, it was like a revalation, I guess like the first zebra plec to the plec fancyers. At the time a brown job with a spot or two more than usual was a big event. Soon after we got angelicus, decorus and flavi's, and shoutendeni. Then Plurops (I loved them), then the notatus/congincus jobs started turning up. After that it was floodgates open with synos realy, alberti, camelopard, acanthromias etc all became the norm. I did get a filamentosus once but it was so evil I did'nt have it long,i also kept soloni (very quiet) and robertsi, (even quieter) and had a group of 6 Brachy Batensoda, hell now I start to think about it I kept most things available to keep at the time!

Next time I could bore you with breeding tatia, or crossing sturisoma aurium with s, robustrum. 12" woodcats, breeding redhooks, and all sorts of cory messing.

Have to go for now, falling asleep, sorry for any spelling errors.

Best for now............kipper

[kipper]

I just read my first post on this thread and were it says 90's it should be 80's. Sorry for any confusion. Guess I'm older than I'de like to be.

[kipper]

Me again, I'm sorry about this but I have a private message from a "steve d" and I carn't seem to read it? I just get an option of 3 different things CSV or whatever? I realy am not good with computers so I am a bit lost. I know there is probably a page to tell me what this means but I struggle with the lingo. It took me a day to log onto here, and then I had to get a friend to explain what I'm doing.

Steve D, if you are interested in the fish I still have them, they are well and I am in no rush to get rid of them.

[steve-d]

i do

am i allowed to posted email here?
if not i apologise in advance

flatoutandscreaming at gmail dot com

[kipper]

Hi Steve, I take it you want the fish? (i'm near bradford) and I guess the flatoutscreaming is your email?

If you do want them I have a polly box for transport but a couple of heavy duty bags may be a good thing to bring, sorry I don't have access to propper fish bag's anymore, the plec is at least 8" and the syno 6 to 7". (will save the syno getting scratched by the plec if they get bagged separatly) I guess one bag for the syno would do, and float it in the box with the cory and plec.

Let me know on here and I will e mail you my address and arrange a day for a pickup.

Best for now.........Kipper.

[catmandave]

Ah, I can smell the bacon cooking now!

[kipper]

I've had no feedback from steve-d, so the fish are still free to a good home.

(I thought this would of been easy!)