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I'm guessing this fella is a Czech made hybrid. Any ideas what the ingredients are? Synodontis + Cow perhaps?








And any ideas what care I should be giving him? Diet? Any synodontis buddies etc? What care would you give this fish? Diet, keep in a group/alone, etc?

Any advice gratefully received.

Many thanks. It was Sold as schoutedini and he was tiny when I first got him, but now he's much bigger (around maybe an inch, inch and a bit in 2 months) I can tell he's not gonna be Schoutedini.

Except for the very fine pattern of dots on the head, it actually doesn't look too far off a schoutedeni.

Silurus wrote:Except for the very fine pattern of dots on the head, it actually doesn't look too far off a schoutedeni.

Really? It's the dots that put me off, and the fact that the lines on his body are so thick. All research I did showed them as having much finer lines. I was praying for Ornatipinnis but I'm guessing that's not the case at all.

Do you think it could be schoutdini then? He's growing pretty fast so I was guessing hybrid?

My apologies for my naivety.

Hello!

Same as
S. ornatipinnis

Seriously?!

You probably don't want to cross-post (i.e. post the same subject in two places)... I'm sure someone would answer this question in "What's my catfish" forum, if you wait a bit... Having two posts takes up more bandwidth on the server, and what if you get TWO different answers in the two threads? Keeping it to one thread will at least keep all the discussion together in one place, so everyone knows what everyone else has said [hopefully].

Can one of the moderators please remove or lock this post?

--
Mats

Well, the basis of this post is what care should I give it, regardless of what it is, as I'm struggling to find information on the net. My apologies if you consider it a waste. I won't be offended if it's locked or deleted.

As someone who runs a couple of forums I can assure you I didn't deliberately cross post looking for the same answer. I even labelled that I had started another thread in another forum, something I wouldn't have done if I was simply scouring for more answers.

I'll edit the post.

I've merged the posts as there's no point in having two with all the pictures in them irrespective of what information is being sought. So, edit as you wish.

I agree this is quite close to but I don't see the trademark striped unpaired fins, doubt they develop later. Also the dorsal fin spine looks rather bent?

Jools

Jools wrote:I agree this is quite close to

Synodontis ornatipinnis

but I don't see the trademark striped unpaired fins

Maybe the dorsal and caudal develop some more pigmentation/colour/stripes, but the pectoral-, ventral- and anal fin(-s) seem transparent indeed.

Jools wrote: Also the dorsal fin spine looks rather bent?

I thought it looked pretty good really.

At that size it should look like a brichardi with a spotted head if it was the true ornatipinnis. My vote is hybrid.

I'm quite fond of this fish so bought a few more today, I don't know if it'll help at all.












Here are pictures I took of the new guys, don't know if that'll help or not. I bought 4 in all.

Any word on care for these guys? They seem to be getting along but I won't be surprised if they fall out as they grow on.

I asked the girl in the store where they came from and she said that they were imported via malaysia, if that gives any clues?

Like I say, great fish, just want to give them the best care possible.

Many thanks for all advice given.

How big are they?

It looks closer to S. ornatipinnis than other hybrids that I have seen but it is a hybrid.

Mark

Caol_ila wrote:How big are they?

Not very big. I bought one a few weeks ago and never saw it, and he's grown to maybe 3 or 4 inches? He's among the biggest of the bunch. The others I bought today, and are a little smaller.

so 5-7 cm? they might change a lot if they double their size or grow even bigger. Id be really curious for follow up pics as they develop.

Caol_ila wrote:so 5-7 cm? they might change a lot if they double their size or grow even bigger. Id be really curious for follow up pics as they develop.

No problem.

When I originally had 1, I never saw him. In the time I had him I literally saw him once when he was put into the tank, and once when I took all the rocks out. With these new fish however, I've seen them all over the tank already this evening, so getting pictures might not be so hard in future.

They squeak quite loud as well, a lot louder than I'd have imagined.

Thanks for taking an interest guys.

I think sitting this one out and checking back in a few months is the best to get them properly IDed.
Since we have "weird" schoutedeni - ornatipinnis - hybrids to chose from.

As for care you should use schoutedeni as a guide. There should be plenty of info on those.

I'm stumped on this one....it doesn't seem like a hybrid at all to me, because I HAVE stumbled across hybrids sold as "ornatipinnis".

the dead giveaway on those is that they're 'wormy' all over; including the head.

it's the spotted head on a 'wormy' patterned body that's one of THE hallmarks on ornatipinnis.

almost all hybrids show a mix up in pattern from both parentspecies.
this one has an ornatipinnis-pattern, perhaps the fins are a bit too clear, but the spots ARE actually arranged in rows, although not very clear.

The one thing that throws me off is the headshape. I expected ornatipinnis to have a headshape more like brichardi or decorus, but they got a narrower mouth and longer mandibular whiskers than I thought.

but my vote's on a real species, not a hybrid.


btw many ornatipinnis are not as beautifully patterned as the pic given by Oliver D, but I've seen also pics of even more beautiful specimen with highly contrasting 'worm' patterns on it; like in the Mergus (can't remember wich part).

The fish in those photos is NOT Synodontis ornatipinnis. As a matter of fact 90% of the fish being sold all over the place as S. ornatipinnis are probaly hybrids or something totally unrelated.
I have seen (and actually own)wild Synodontis ornatipinnis, seen both adults and juveniles and they look nothing like what i see around.

How does one upload photos out here ??

africanman wrote:How does one upload photos out here ??

There's a sticky in the "what is my catfish" forum that gives details. That said, if you do have images of the "real deal" then email them to me if you like and I will add them to the cat-elog section (and then you can post them in here too).

Jools

I believe Jools has updated the Cat-log with a new photo of a wild-caught Synodontis ornatipinns.