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I've heard people mention their synodontis multipunctatus burundis before but I'm not sure how these are different than just regular synodontis mutipunctatus. Could someone enlighten me?

Thanks!

I assume they are multis from the burundi district of the lake

Would these have more or less demand than other multis?

tokyo wrote:Would these have more or less demand than other multis?

Care should be the same.

Birger

But is there any reason to choose one over the other?

tokyo wrote:But is there any reason to choose one over the other?

They are different variants from different areas of the lake , in this case a northern form, care is the same, it would not be prudent to mix the variants as there are subtle differences in color and size among them.

There is a bit more of an explanation here http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =8&t=24515

Birger

I don't plan on mixing variants, I'm just curious why someone might brag that their multi is a burundi. I found that post in my searches and it only added to my questioning.

Is there one variant that is prefered over others?

I think , just what I think now mind you, I thnk they are trying to say it's wild caught, from Borundi as opposed to born in captivity? Maybe?

I bought some lucipinnis from a guy that also sold Borundi's, he would say "from Borundi" syno petricola borundii

tokyo wrote:I don't plan on mixing variants, I'm just curious why someone might brag that their multi is a burundi. I found that post in my searches and it only added to my questioning.

Is there one variant that is prefered over others?

It is not so much that they are "better" or something like that, just a more precise label as to where the fish came from. It may well be that other shops selling wild-caught Multis ALSO got them from Burundi, but aren't bothered with labeling them. I take it as a good sign for the seller when they can tell you EXACTLY where the fish came from, rather than just a general label of "Tanganyika" - after all, that lake is pretty big (as in the second largest freshwater lake in the world or some such), so if the fish came from the northern or southern end of the lake isn't going to be that difficult to sort out - it will be flown out of different countries depending on which part it came from.

Andywollo: _IF_ a scientist wanted to use the concept of subspecies to indicate the location, it would be Synodontis petricola burundensis (or perhaps burundensae - not quite sure what the rules are actually). "Burundii" would be "Named after the person Burund(i)" - and making your own scientific names is not a good idea, as it essentially makes the name "invalid". A correct, non-scientific label would be to add the country of origin as in quotes after the real name, eg. Synodontis petricola "Burundi".

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Mats

I wasn't making it up, I got it from his website. The man selling the Borundi named petricola.

Petricola's from Borundi?

Borundi is a coastal village near to Dapoli in the southern state of Maharashtra in India

sorry spelled it wrong, it was Burundi.

look. all I was saying was I have heard the Burundi used with a syno before and was saying how I took that to mean. that's all.

Technically, if you breed S. multipunctatus "burundi", the F1 generation will also be S. multipunctata "burundi", so the fact that they are "Burundi form" doesn't in and of itself mean that they are wild-caught. It is a way to indicate which variant of fish it is.

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Mats

traders make up a LOT of names, but Burundi is interesting in so far that it has a very good export center for live fish run by Michelle brichard.

yes, the daughter of.

the late Pierre Brichard wrote the book on the Tanganyika fish hobby. literally. several too.
and he is to Tanganyikan fish in our hobby what the Wright bros are to aeroplanes.......
no less!

the Brichrds both capture and breed a lotof species from the nothern end of Tanganyika.
the true Synodontis petricola can be caught right on their doorstep!
even better; what is usually sold as petricola is the Zambian species Synodontis lucipinnis; the so called 'petricola Dwarf'.

any petricola originating from Burundi is likelyto be a rare fish; either it's the REAL petricola (a very elongate gracile fish) or even dhonti, juvenile tanganicae, mixed in spp aff polli, lacustricola nd so on.


unfortunately many traders are not like Michelle Brichard and are only in it for a fast buck regardless of keeping straight; they know well that rare Burundi wildcaughts are in demand and they won't hesitate for a second to rip you off.
I've seen far too many captive-bred Zambian lucipinnis sold as 'Burundi petricola', not to mention the host of Czech hybrid garbage sold as such.
a few people actually make an effort to get the real thing and your supplier might be one of them, but for about 90% of humanity it's as soon as money is involved all and every kind of ethical behaviour, honesty and thruthfullness go out the window.


in short; you need a picture!

wow, this thread really blew up.

Thanks for all the info, its more than I could have hoped for.

I was asking because I was trying to compare a group of wild caught synodontis multipunctatus with a group of synodontis multipuctatus "burundi" to decide which to buy.

tokyo wrote:I was asking because I was trying to compare a group of wild caught synodontis multipunctatus with a group of synodontis multipuctatus "burundi" to decide which to buy.

And there is really no reason for one being "better" than the other - it's just that one is (assuming the information is correct of course) is more closely defined where it's from. It is the same species, requires the same care and behaves the same. They may look slightly differently because each geographical variant varies - I don't know in which way the Burundi variant is different from other variant, however - as a species they are fairly variable in general.

Just make sure that they are genuinely wild-caught and not captive bred from the Czech republic - in this case, it's very likely that only one parent is indeed S. multipunctatus.

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Mats

A picture paints a thousand words.....

post some pics & we can go from there

Unfortunately I don't have pics because I'm buying online. But the ones labeled "burundi" are from a supplier which I know to be very reputable. Their multis are a little more expensive but I will pay the extra amount for peace of mind.

Thanks for the help!

Tokyo:

wow, this thread really blew up.

That's one of the reasons I find this site to be so fascinating and addicting! The breadth and depth of the knowledge among the member is, to me, simply stunning, and, although I have not yet met any one in this community (I am about 3 1/2 hours form Larry "Apistomaster" Waybright and seriously considering a special trip out th Clarkston just to meet him), I do consider several of the members here to be my friends.

I honestly don't believe that another online community exists that combines a comparable knowledge base with the level of civility and the love of our topic as we find here on Planet Catfish. In so many other communities, the game of "Flame the idiot" seems to prevail; someone makes a mistake in a posting, or breeches some arcane rule of protocol, and everyone else pigpiles him to show everyone else how much better they are than the original poster. I have never once seen that here. I have (and I'm sure will again as I learn the finer points of this community) made mistakes that have crossed the lines with the rules here and was thankful to Jools for simply correcting it and sending me a private message explaning my mistake.

Back on topic:

Congratulations on raising such a beautiful fish. One of the "old wives tales" of our hobby states that a fish will only grow to fit the size of the tank it grows up in. If only that were true. Then none of us would have the heartbreak of having to find a new home for a pet as obviously special as this one.

Good luck finding a home for this guy.

Timberwolf wrote:Congratulations on raising such a beautiful fish. One of the "old wives tales" of our hobby states that a fish will only grow to fit the size of the tank it grows up in. If only that were true. Then none of us would have the heartbreak of having to find a new home for a pet as obviously special as this one.

Good luck finding a home for this guy.

Huh? As far as I see, there's no one rehoming any fish. Tokyo is discussing buying some fish...

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Mats

MatsP:

Huh? As far as I see, there's no one rehoming any fish. Tokyo is discussing buying some fish...

Oops! I had been reading the thread about the Giant Syno just before hand and hadn't had my coffee yet. I must have transposed the two threads in my own mind. Mea culpa, mea culpa...

Or maybe caffeine diem fits better.

Thanks for the encouraging words timberwolf. I have been at the wrong end of that game before and its not fun. I've actually had to leave a couple forums because I was so tired of people doing this. Not to say that I'm perfect, I have jumped on the bandwagon myself a few times. Although I think I do a pretty good job of restraining myself when such an urge arises. This is only my first post here, as I am fairly new to the fish keeping hobby and until now have only looked into raising cichlids. But with my soon to be new arrivals I hope to join this community as well. This forum is already becoming one of my favorites.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

p.s.
Not sure why cichlids was censored.

Under the "Help!" menu item, there is a "FAQ" which gives this link:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/faq/index. ... opular=yes

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Mats

Haha, very nice.

Tokyo:

This is only my first post here, as I am fairly new to the fish keeping hobby...

I didn't see it said before, but I know that I can confidently speak for everyone else here when I say Welcome to Planet Catfish!

You will find, in the persons of Shane Linder, Apistomaster (Larry Waybright), and Coryman (Ian Fuller), et al, an almost incomprehensible depth of knowledge and a joy in sharing that knowledge.

I started here when I got a pair of LDA-25 Pitbull/Goby Plecos and found the site looking for information on how to take care of them. As I read more and more and participated in the various fora, I found myself more and more in live with catfish. I now have cats ranging from the diminutive LDA-25s to a hybrid Synodontis, who is almost 9 inches long! In between, I have corys, rubberlips, otos (in my wife's tank) and a banjo cat. Somehow, they all do well in my community tank, which is alive with live bearers, tetras, a pair of blue gularis killifish and a couple of dojo loaches.

Tomorrow, everyone is moving to larger tanks and from various members here, I have gotten some spectacular ideas that I am looking forward to putting into it!

Best of luck, Tokyo and, again, welcome to Planet Catfish!