Mottled brown and yellow cat

[CDM]

Found this guy in a LFS in Daytona. The owner called him a Synodontis. Pretty Generic I know from searching your site. The owner told me this story about him: This type of cat will lay/move her eggs to a cichlids egg nest and the cichlid will raise it as her own in a river in Africa. I was very reluctant (I really want a Jaguar) but the little guy looks pretty cool and he was only 7 dollars, so I got him. Right now he is 3" long, VERY shy, Mottled with brown patches and yellow between. His body has much larger brown patches than his head. I've searched the site and didnt find him here. Please help!

[Birger]

That is a hybrid with

Synodontis decora

inthe mix.
The egg story is not right either synodontis decora would most likely scatter eggs in vegetation.

Birger

[CDM]

Thanks for the quick reply, I figured he was some type of hybrid. Any truth the the being raised by cichlids story?

[sidguppy]

unfortunately hybrids are man-made by sticking hormone-filled syringes into adult Syno's of different species;
then squeezing them to get eggs and sperm out which almost always causes their death due to pulverized organs.
the eggs and sperm of different parentage are mixed by bored men bent on playing god and reaping in heaps of money
afterwards the offspring is sold under false names to the wholesale suppliers who sell it to the LFS.


there's no cichlid parental care in this sad story, alas


there are 2 species that use broodparasitism;

Synodontis grandiops

and

Synodontis multipunctata

their usual host in Lake Tanganyika is Ctenochromis horei, occasionally they use Simochromis babaulti or a Featherfin cichlid

in captivity the use of Lake Victoria species, Malawi sandchewers like Placidochromis and the Burundi species of Astatotilapia burtoni has been succesful.

[CDM]

Thank you.