which sturisoma is it ?

[vlg1728]

Hello !

I have a female sturi, I thought she was an aureum so I bought a male.

But they are different, so I'm not sure anymore of the species of the 2.

The female is 26cm (~10 inches), 18cm (7 inches) without of the extensions of the caudal fin, and has a long pointy nose
The male is 14cm (5.5 inches) without the extensions of the caudal fin, and the nose is shorter. He was in a tank too small for him, his extensions are currently begining to grow again.

They bred once, and I saw one baby in the tank.

Female :






Male :




Thank you.

[Narwhal72]

They both look like S. aureum to me.

[vlg1728]

the extensions of the pectoral fins with the female, aren't they something festivum have more than aureum ? and her body is higher than the male who seems more thin.

All that make me think they are not of the same species.

[Narwhal72]

At first glance they both looked pretty low backed to me. But now that I look closer I agree with you.

I think the Female is festivum and the male is aureum.

[vlg1728]

As the differences are not this obvious, is it possible in this case that the female is an hybrid between aureum and festivum ?

I have to add that the two have bred, and i saw a baby in the tank.

[Narwhal72]

Do you know the origin of the adult fish? If they were wild caught fish that would be pretty unlikely.

[vlg1728]

I'm not sure, but from what I know of the previous owner, I think it comes from a pet store. Not the kind to choose their fish with a lot of care.

The male is a wild one, if I remember correctly.

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

it was also my first thought that the female might be a hybrid.
The male could be also a Sturisomatichthys, it doesn't look like a St. aureum to me.

Cheers,

[vlg1728]

if the male was a Sturisomatichthys, the breeding between the 2 wouldn't be possible, would it ?

As I said, the 2 bred successfully.

[vlg1728]

after seeing the pictures of Sturisomatichthys, the male is not one of them. The back is very different than Sturisomatichthys.

[Narwhal72]

Breeding between the two could still be possible. They are closely related and names are just things people put on animals to help us identify them. Fish don't care.

[vlg1728]

I'm not.sure 100% but the line of the back is different than sturisomatichtis, which has more "round" lines. He has straight lines and sharp angles. I think is Just a little young. I'll try to contact the seller to ask.

[vlg1728]

I think in these cases that i Will Never be able to breed these 2 ? To avoir, hybridation ?

So disappointed... Sturisoma are m'y favorite fish in my tank...

[Narwhal72]

If you plan on keeping the fry only for yourself and not distributing them then breeding is ok. If your plan was to distribute the fish to others and you are not 100% sure of the identification of the parents then it is probable best not to breed them.

[vlg1728]

Hello, thank you for your answer.

If they breed again, maybe I will try once, juste once, to take care of the babies. I cannot have a lot more fish in my tank, which has already a fair number of fish in it.

[Karsten S.]

Hi,

if the male was a Sturisomatichthys, the breeding between the 2 wouldn't be possible, would it ?

in fact genetical analysis of Covain et al. shows that St. aureum and St. festivum are closer to Sturisomatichtys than to Sturisoma in sensu stricto. I'm not sure if the paper is already officially published, in it they are transfered to Stursisomatichtys.
There are known hybrids between Sturisoma sp. and Sturisomatichthys sp., so the existence of your fry doesn't exclude anything.

after seeing the pictures of Sturisomatichthys, the male is not one of them. The back is very different than Sturisomatichthys.

How many Sturisomatichthys species do you know ?
If we follow the already mentioned work of Covain et al. it is very easy:
Both are definitely Sturisomatichtys .

But also before there were quite a few Sturisomatichthys species and the colour pattern is very variable...

Cheers,

[vlg1728]

Hello, thank you.

I made a comparison with the pictures in the database of planetcatfish, and I didn't recognise my male in any of the species presented. So i'm wrong in some way, or completely.

So following his work, sturisoma aureum and festivum are big sturisomatichthys ?

After all, it doesn't matter anymore, I want to keep them, I like them both. I will only let the babies hatch in the tank, and as they are very difficult to feed, they will not survive for long. I'm just disappointed, next time I will be very careful to chose them.

A little aparte :
2 weeks after the previous breeding, they made it again yesterday. Even though they are not from the same species, they love to do it xd

[vlg1728]

Hello, how do i do if the fry manage to survive ? XD

I found 2 fries of 1,5week old in my tank... 1,5cm.