Colour of my punks

[MultiPunk]

The 2 part article is by Shraml and the text on syno nigromaculatus is as follows:

This species has its main distribution area outside Lake Tanganyika (according to Skelton 1993) in the Okavango and upper Zambesi system, also in the Zambian Zaire system, in the Kasai river and in Lake Tanganyika. The species seems to have been imported for the aquarium just recently. Photos in Schraml (1980), Kobayagawa (1991) and Schaefer (1996) show an unidentified species, perhaps S. obesus or S. nigrita.

S.nigromaculatus has very small dots on the head, which are larger in the body. Fairly similar animals are imported from West-Africa and are frequently seen in public aquaria. It is very difficult to tell these dark, spotted species apart. In the Aquarium Atlas (vol3) a fish is reproduced which is very slender, has a low physique, a flat adipose fin and a relatively short humeral process. But this animal originating from Shaba in Zaire, could come from fast flowing stretches of water and so have different body proportions, or it is simply not correctly identified. However, in the province Shaba=Katanga there are also standing stretches of water (Parc Upemba)!

The most recent publication "Aqualog Photo Collection 1" (Glaser 2000) has many useful photos of mochokids. Unfortunately, in the case of S.nigromaculatus it is of little help, since there is only one picture under this name and this shows it from the top, so that its essential feature cannot be easily recognised. It may or may not be the right species. S. melanostictus Boulenger, 1906 and S.colyeri Boulenger, 1923 count as synonyms.

[MultiPunk]

(continued)

Frank Shafer received in 2001 from Zambia from the small Lake Mweru, which is also known as Lake Mweru Wantipa and is situated in the Mweru Wantipa National Park (between the large lake Mweru and the southern end of Lake Tanganyika), 3 young synodontis, two of which were identified as S.nigromaculatus. Both fish were about 7 or 8 cm long; adults can reach over 30cm. As one can see the dotted pattern is not uniform, but can be individually coarser or finer. It is characteristic that the dots on the head and body of each individual animal are approximately the same size. The relatively light coloured first dorsal fin spine is striking.

There is no information about the care of these fish up to now. Skelton writes that the animals prefer rocks or the marginal vegetation of fluent stretches of water, from lagoons or backwaters. Their diet is varied and includes detritus, algae, vegetable material, insect, snails and small fish as well as chance carrion. They propagate during the summery rainy season. Local fishermaen catch them as food fish. My own experiences are that the catfishes like to hide and spend the day under roots, which they leave only for a short while when they are fed. They eat until they get ball like bellies. They constantly squabble with their own kind but no harm is done. (End)

There are 2 illustrations with this article and the only unclear item is the caudal fin. They are more elongated and slender than the above drawings and the spot pattern is clearly shown with overlapping dots in C and complete O shapes. Contradicting the Skelton examples but backing up Shraml is the fact that the spots on the head are smaller than those on the body. Aside from the tail fin my fish are exactly the same as those shown here.

I have a friend visiting this weekend with a digital camera, so have high hopes of improved images next week.

[Sid Guppy]

Searched and found some pix:
pic 1:

S nigromaculatus; yes or no?

pic2:

this is what I thought to be the real thing...

pic3:

this pic is already shown as the nigromaculatus

pic4:

this pic also seems to be one?? looks like an entirely different species to me....

pic5:

Looks like a hit, is sold as such (pic from a stocklist)

pic6:

another stocklist, supposedly fish from the Pangani river.

[Silurus]

Pic 1 is the same as the fish identified as S. nigromaculatus in Skelton's book, which I think is not the true S. nigromaculatus (adipose fin too small, body too slender).

[MultiPunk]

pic 4 and 5 seem to be the same species to me, 4 seemingly more representative than 3 of nigromaculatus examples in photos - sorry to be critical of the great man but you only have to look at that illustrator's drawings of other species (eg multipunctatus) to realise that they are not "spot on".

There seem to be two issues of contention with this species:-
1. body shape - the animal is found in both rivers and still water, has it adapted to each such that we have elongated and compact versions of the same species? If this is true then the differences between drawings 3 and 4 are more acceptable.
2. spot patterns - there's a variation between individuals to put it mildly, should we therefore ignore the pattern as being indicative?

[Silurus]

body shape - the animal is found in both rivers and still water, has it adapted to each such that we have elongated and compact versions of the same species?

Ecophenotypes (which is what you are referring to) have not been known to occur in catfishes, so I think the difference in body shape is indicative of different species.

[MultiPunk]

This has been a long running thread and it's been a while since the last, but a friend with a digital camera visited recently and these were the results. Looking forward to some views.

[Silurus]

(Moderator's note: Fixed the image thing and deleted posts associated with posting problems)

Now that a clearrer pic is available and the fish have presumably grown bigger, it doesn't really look like any hybrid I have seen.
This *might* be S. nigromaculatus (or possibly S. rebeli). A pity there isn't a side-view shot of the fish to confirm.

[plesner]

I saw catfish just like those on the first pictures from MultiPunk earlier today in a LFS in Copenhagen. The sign said S. petricola. When I asked the owner where he got the fish, I wasn't overly surprised when he answered: 'They're from the Czech Republic'.

[MultiPunk]

Many thanks indeed Silurus for sorting out my picture problems - you must tell me how you fixed it!

So there's still room for doubt? What would clinch the issue as far as you're concerned? I've just got a copy of Konings' "Tanganyikan Cichlids in their Natural Environment" and there's a photo labelled s.nigromaculatus which seems to show an overlapping spot pattern and a tail that's evidently more forked than illustrations above have shown.

Plesner - these are very obviously not petricola. Are you thinking hybrid or just incorrectly labelled?

There is a slight change to the behaviour I reported earlier - they have developed a taste for leleupi fry!

[Sid Guppy]

despite Ad Konings being very good with cichlids, he often misses when it comes to catfish.
that particular pic shows a variety of the true Synodontis polli. It's coppery eye, short whiskers, big upperlip and sturdy built are fairly recognizable.

[MultiPunk]

Now I'm disappointed again, with the syno nigromaculatus label I at least had a proper Tang species but I've just seen perhaps the closest match in the Cat eLog, Synodontis sp.(1), picture one.

The fish in this series of pics seem to be quite deformed and ill proportioned, but picture one from the head back is very similar to my synos - alas and alack! It would seem clear that I have bought hybrids.

So now I am torn once again, do I keep the synos because actually they are good value fish in the tank (assuming they have stopped growing!) or do I return them to the lfs on principle because they are hybrids?

What's your call?

[Silurus]

It all depends. Are you a purist?
I refuse to keep hybrids, neither would I keep anything artificially bred for (angelfish, discus, mollies, swordtails and all that jazz). But that's me.
If the fish (and you) are happy, then leave 'em be.

[MultiPunk]

Finally it has been resolved. The lfs took all 3 hybrids back (they agreed that there were hybrids and blamed their Czecho suppliers) and replaced them with 4 juvenile petricola. This was 7 months after I originally purchased them so I'm pleased with that outcome. The store had 2 x 6" "syno granulosa" in one of their reservoires for £60 each...