Synodontis pardalis

[MarkSmith]

Query for anyone: I noticed on blog dated August 17, 2010 by Oliver Lucanus of Below Water, stating: "Never Before Seen Synodontis" over an image of a freshly caught Synodontis pardalis. If I am not mistaken, were not some of the photos of imported S. pardalis on PlanetCatfish taken in 2009?? Does anyone have any idea how far back S. pardalis came into the hobby for the first time?

[Birger]

PlanetCatfish has photos dated 2008 http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=7665

I seem to remember someone saying they had seen them long before, but can not find where that was.

It has been a long time since first described(1908) and considering the area where it occurs, I cant see why they would not have been imported before at some time IMO.

Birger

[Jools]

I agree with the above, but it's species I've never seen alive.

Jools

[MatsP]

There seem to be quite a few people expecting to get these, I've heard of at least three different places that are saying "We will have S. pardalis in a few weeks".

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Mats

[Richard B]

Is it Jippo (?) who got a genuine batch last year, certainly someone in Europe did from somewhere in Germany and they are genuine.

Worton was previously discussing getting a large batch in, which might the one ones retailers are referring to.

Neil @ Pier was talking about these when i was last up there & he knew where they were coming from so those are going to be genuine.

Pardalis is though, a name very often used in the trade for hybrids.

I'll try anf find the relative threads

[Richard B]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... is#p206145

[Richard B]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 54#p207354

[MarkSmith]

Toyin Ojo of Rehoboth Aquatics in Texas imported approx. 50 of them recently. I would hazard a guess that there was one big collection of them in southern Cameroon recently, and the results of that collection are now making their way into America and various places in Europe. It is great to see the most spectacularly patterned Synodontis make its way into the hobby again.

[MarkSmith]

Just a note to let you all know that I got in my S. pardalis last night from Toyin at Rehoboth Aquatics. They came arrived in excellent condition. Will try post a photo once they settle in.

[Jools]

Looking forward to it!

Jools

[MarkSmith]

Am hoping to snap some shots soon. They appear to be quite aggressive towards each other, and I ended up having to separate them from each other, as the dominant individual caused some noticable wound marks on the other two. I was quite surprised by this, actually.

[Birger]

They appear to be quite aggressive towards each other, and I ended up having to separate them from each other, as the dominant individual caused some noticable wound marks on the other two.

Interesting...what size tank are they in? Males or females (or both) doing the rough stuff?
Petteri(Jippo on this forum) has not mentioned aggresiveness with his, be interested to hear how his are.

Birger

[Richard B]

They appear to be quite aggressive towards each other, and I ended up having to separate them from each other, as the dominant individual caused some noticable wound marks on the other two.

Interesting...what size tank are they in? Males or females (or both) doing the rough stuff?
Petteri(Jippo on this forum) has not mentioned aggresiveness with his, be interested to hear how his are.Birger

Interesting indeed

I am aware that the current batch appearing are from (i am informed) , Cameroon - where else? LOL

Did Jippo indicate his were from Cameroon - i wonder perhaps if his might be (& this is wild speculation) Katangae as they appear very similar & congo species seem to find their way into the trade ok.

[MarkSmith]

I have not attempted to sex my 3 specimens, but they started fighting the same day they were introduced into my 55 gallon aquarium. At least one hiding place for each animal was provided. The tank also has a black background. Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics also has commented on their aggression.

I don't think they care S. katangae, as S. katangae comes from south and southeast Congo/Zambia area, and what I purchased was collected in the Dja river, Cameroon.

[MatsP]

I think Richard was speculating that the fish that Jippo has could be from somewhere other than Cameroon - e.g. the Congo river drainage...

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Mats

[MarkSmith]

Here are some images of my dominant S. pardalis. Perhaps someone can tell me the sex of this individual?

[Birger]

I do not usually vent from underneath so I am guessing male which is what I also thought looking at the lateral view...with Synodontis it is usually easier to tell after they get in better shape after shipping etc.
See this http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =8&t=30387

It is interesting to note the difference in spots to Petteri's fish...the first picture on the data page for

Synodontis pardalis

.

Richard does not

Synodontis katangae

have fewer bands on the dorsal and caudal.(after a quick look)

Birger

[Richard B]

Richard does not

Synodontis katangae

have fewer bands on the dorsal and caudal.(after a quick look)Birger

To be honest i haven't a clue but given the relatively little photographic documentation i'm not sure what is typical and what changes might occur as the fish develops from a juvie to a full adult. It was a random piece of speculation on my part

I think Richard was speculating that the fish that Jippo has could be from somewhere other than Cameroon - e.g. the Congo river drainage...

Indeed & can i reemphasise the word speculation. I just wanted to stimulate another branch of this thread

[jippo]

Nice catch Mark .

When I got mine I was told they've been imported from Cameroon. Mine looks very much like Marks, only spots are little bit different. Mine has more rounded spots, not like leopard spots that Marks fish does. But anyway i'm sure they are same species. I can't say that these are pardalis, all the books says they should have yellowish base coloration but with these base coloration is whitish. Could be some other population of pardalis, hard to say.

About aggression I've had problems only short period. First(2009) I got four of these but few months ago I got two more and when I added these with others there was lots of aggression. Old ones already got their territory and these new ones tried to take their place close to old ones, it was chasing maybe two weeks before they settled down. But there were no injuries, just chasing. It looked lot like group of Hemisynodontis membanacea behavior, chasing all the time but not real biting. Now all the pardalis have settled and there is no aggression anymore, just "normal" chasing like example Synodontis brichardi has.

They all have their own territory and largest female(18cmTL) is the dominant and nobody is allowed to go her area. Smaller males share their territory sometimes and they can lay there touching each others, I haven't seen this with females. They are at 720L riverine tank with group of S. brichardi, they don't bother each other and pardalis and brichardi can share same territory.

As I can see the chasing behavior looks a lot same that brichardi's have when they are solving their hierarchy at the group. Only difference is that brichardi's bite each others much more than pardalis and sometimes brichardi's are really fighting several hours that I have never seen with pardalis.

Perhaps someone can tell me the sex of this individual?

I would say male.

[MarkSmith]

Thanks for your info Jippo. I think there must be some variation on pattern along the length of their distribution in the Dja River. Also, it may be that the larger they become, the leopard-like spotting slowly changes into distinctive spotting? Just a guess, though.

[syno-kev]

that pardalis pic is stunning !

has anyone seen any for sale here in the northwest - UK.

??
I would love one of these for my collection.

[MatsP]

Neil at Pier was talking about getting them in a few weeks back. However, this was based on the shipment having another species of something in it (he didn't say what that was). May be worth a try tho'.

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Mats

[jippo]

Neil at Pier was talking about getting them in a few weeks back. However, this was based on the shipment having another species of something in it (he didn't say what that was). May be worth a try tho'.

--
Mats

Have you already got these to UK?

[MatsP]

I don't know. I haven't heard anyone saying "S. pardalis in <some shop>". In the case of Pier, Neil said he would only put the order in if he could get some other species in the shipment - I don't know what that species was.

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Mats