Syno ?

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 28 Jan 2007, 20:59

Any idea what this is? Came in with synos from african shipment.Have had them for a year and they aren't growing. Seem to be maxed out at 3 inches. Thank you in advance.

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 28 Jan 2007, 22:26

Hello notaclue,

Looks like a good potential for being Synodontis grandiops from L. Tanganyika. I'm not going to bet the farm, but am happy with my "guess".

Lee

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 28 Jan 2007, 22:55

I have 4 of them that came from a shipment of adult multies and petricolas. They aren't growing after a year but 2 of the females are gravid. Are they cuckoos like multies and did I get burnt on the price? I paid $25.00 each for them. Can't find pic's of grandops in forum photo. Thank you again.

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 28 Jan 2007, 23:33

It is a newly named species.

brofro wrote:Wright, J.J. and L.M. Page. 2006 Taxonomic revision of Lake Taganyikan Synodontis (Siluriformes: Mochokidae). Florida Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 46(4):99-154.

Abstract

The taxonomy of the Synodontis of Lake Tanganykia was investigated by examining 312 museum specimens. Morphometric, meristic, and nontraditional internal and external characters were examined, resulting in the recognition of 11 species of Synodontis from Lake Tanganyika. Ten of the species are endemic to the lake basin, and three are new to science. Synodontis grandiops n. sp. is the most similar to S. multipunctatus but is distinguished by measurements of the eye (64.2-81.0% of snout length vs. 44.9-62.0% in S. multipunctatus) and pectoral-fin ray counts (7 vs. 8 in S. multipunctatus). Synodontis lucipinnis n. sp. is most similar to S. petricola but is distinguished by the lack if an axillary pore and the presence of light-colored windows at the bases of the rayed fins. Synodontis ilebrevis n. sp. is most similar to S. polli but is distinguished by the absence of a hindgut chamber, the shortness of the gut (0.8-1.4 times TL in S. ilebrevis vs. 4.0-5.5 times TL in S. polli), and the presence of short, flattend papillae on the skin (vs. villous papillae in S. polli).

Species recognized as valid in this work include:

S. dhonti
S. grandiops n. sp.
S. granulosus
S. ilebrevis n. sp.
S. irsacae
S. lucipinnis n. sp.
S. melanostictus
S. mulitpunctatus
S. petricola
S. polli
S. tanganaicae

From this thread.

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 29 Jan 2007, 06:30

Hi.

Re S. grandiops (assuming that your fish is this): Published photos seem to indicate that this species, like S. multipunctatus, will practice cuckoo style spawning. I would guess that it, also like S. multipunctatus, would scatter eggs in the absence of a suitable host.

Lee

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 29 Jan 2007, 07:07

The closest I could find to my eyes was the syno sp.cf.polli in your forum but I guess the barbells aren't the same. I am going to put them in with my mbuna pseudos. acei and see if I can get them to cuckoo breed. Thanks again.

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 29 Jan 2007, 10:21

Good luck with the breeding attempt with the Synodontis. Let us know how things work out.

Lee

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 29 Jan 2007, 10:21

This species was described only in December 2006, so since it's a VERY RECENT, it's not yet got any photos in the Cat-eLog.

You may want to send the first one of yours to webmaster (at) planetcatfish (dot) com, along with your full name and a link to this thread (in case Jools hasn't read it himself), and it will probably end up in the Cat-eLog as a picture of that fish.

If you're successfull in spawning it, you could also supply details of that for the Cat-eLog entry (you can post that in a new thread in the "bugs and suggestions forum"). Obviously, any other observations would be welcom too, particularly anything that is different between this one and the similar species.

--
Mats

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 29 Jan 2007, 13:59

$25.00 seems very resonable but price varies considerably from country to country - for example i have got some multis for free form contacts on the net but in a local fish store (or maybe not that local) the price can vary from £10 for a 1" specimen, £20 for a 3" sub-adult, to £50 or a touch more for similar fish. I expect much more to surface from the recent revion of Tanganyikan synodontis than has been seen so far - maybe not all scientifically described but there are other forms of polli which cannot be accounted for in the revision, sp2 polli white doesn't seem to be included, petricola "giant" etc

Anyway, really nice fish & i look forward to hearing how you get on.

Richard B

grahams · Post by **grahams** » 29 Jan 2007, 19:17

Hi,
I`m really not up to speed yet with the Syno revision,but could this be the Sp"Goldeneye"?If it is, then it is a Cuckoo spawner,and at a very good price.That also maxes out at about 3"S.L.and has finnage colours like the "Multiops" or whatever the name now is.

Help me out here Lee or Richard.

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 29 Jan 2007, 21:06

Hi all.

The maximum size given for S. grandiops in the descriptive material is 150 mm (5.9 in) SL. The look-alike S. multipunctatus gets much larger - 280 mm (11 in) SL.

As for the potential of another similar species that is smaller in size - it would not surprise me one bit. The current revision is our new starting place and it will be interesting to see where we go from here. All one has to do is look at the variety of Lake Tanganyikan Synodontis that are pictured in the various areas of the Cat-eLog and it is obvious that we have a very long way to go before we sleep. Darn, this is fun.

Lee

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 29 Jan 2007, 21:10

Hi notaclue,

Regarding the pictures that you took of your "multioid" Synodontis: Would it be possible for you to get another full flat side shot of one of the fish with a better focus? It would be greatly appreciated and though it may not provide any answers, it might help us come up with some more questions. Thanks very much if you can do this.

Lee

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 30 Jan 2007, 01:37

I have collected 8 synos from my tanks in the 3 inch range. I believe 3 are petricolas as they have white on the front of their dorsal. They are all wild caught and I have had them all for at least a year. 3 of the others all look like the photos. I'll try for better pic's in a minute. The other 2 look a little different also. They aren't as round, are longer looking but actually a smaller fish. I think they might be the males but I'll get some clearer (Hopefully) pic's in 2 minutes.

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 30 Jan 2007, 01:44

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 30 Jan 2007, 01:52

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 30 Jan 2007, 01:53

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 30 Jan 2007, 02:16

The next 4 pictures are of the 2 smaller ones that I have. They have a longer body and are smaller. Hope I'm not taxing this post. Thank you again.

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 31 Jan 2007, 20:29

Hello notaclue and all.

Thanks for sending in more great pictures of your catfishes.

Regarding picture number three: It is a bit dark, but with a little doctoring I was able to get a halfway satisfactory measurement of the eye/snout ratio. The figure that I came up with was 72%, which fits very nicely within the range of Synodontis grandiops.

Good luck with your spawning attempt with these fish. Let us know what happens.

Lee

notaclue · Post by **notaclue** » 01 Feb 2007, 03:20

Thank you again for your help. I will try to breed them as cuckoos. Setting them up in a tank with my breeders now. I'll keep you up-dated. Take care.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Feb 2007, 10:15

Is Synodontis grandiops really this dark??
Thought it was pretty much looking the same as S. multipunctatus??!!

Cheers
Yann

lfinley58 · Post by **lfinley58** » 01 Feb 2007, 11:03

Hi Yann and all.

Assuming that the fish under discussion is in fact S. grandiops, the body color reported for alcohol preserved specimens is "...pale yellow to brown...". The exact same is said for S. multipunctatus. I know that over the years I have seen a good range of background colors in "S. multipunctatus" which no doubt included the larger eye form now known as S. grandiops.

Regarding S. multipunctatus, Wright and Page make the following comment: "Like most species of Synodontis in the lake, slight variation in color pattern occurs among localities, but not consistently enough to be able to distinguish among populations."
Whether this statement will continue to hold true in the future remains to be seen.

Lee

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Feb 2007, 14:35

Hi Lee!!

Thanks!!

One thing that had appear on a French Cichlid forum (or was it here) is that eye size could be related to age, and could be subject to change as the fish grows... younger specimens always have bigger eyes compare to head size but this is attenuated as the fish comes to adult size...

Cheers
Yann

Syno ?

Syno ?

Syno?

breeding

note to notaclue

More pic's coming.

the eyes have it.