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A couple more of my catfish I would really appreciate help with making sure I know what are?

The first I bought as a Bristle nose Plecostomus, but the white tips on both the top and bottom of his tail fin are making me think other wise, any suggestions?



The other I bought as a Synodontis Multipunctatus, but I am told he has too many spots to be, any suggestions?

Hi.

Your pleco is indeed a common bristlenose. They often have the white tips, especially when small. Proper name .

The syno looks to me like a hybrid, but I'm not 100% on that.

I agree with the common bristlenose ID

Who said the syno had too many spots for a multipunctata - how many should they supposedly have - i have never heard this before & i know a little bit about tanganyikan synos. Although it doesn't look absolutely typical i cannot see any of the characters which would indicate a hybrid & i think this is indeed a multipunctata (or the most advanced hybrid going): the tail is spot on, the dorsal has clearly defined light & dark areas (with no odd flecks of dark colour in the white area) - i'll stick with my first impression & say genuine multipunctata. Every one of them has a different pattern which changes as the fish grows/ages.

What is the pH of the water? Multies don't fare well IME if the water creeps into acidic levels for long periods, something like 7.5 (or higher) is ideal for their long term wellbeing. I noted a cory in the same pic & these 2 species really have different requirements - corys would benefit from a sand substrate most importantly

The first one is definitely a common bristlenose. I have 100+ fry with exactly the same thing. Does it turn darker with age then?

kizno1 wrote:The first one is defiantly a common bristlenose. I have 100+ fry with exactly the same thing. Does it turn darker with age then?

I think you MEANT to write definitely (using spellchecker/predictive text too quickly, by any chance). They can be quite variable even at birth, but they do change with age as well as depending on mood and lighting/substrate (and possibly water conditions). The older they get, the less bright the spots are.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:

kizno1 wrote:The first one is defiantly a common bristlenose. I have 100+ fry with exactly the same thing. Does it turn darker with age then?

I think you MEANT to write definitely (using spellchecker/predictive text too quickly, by any chance). They can be quite variable even at birth, but they do change with age as well as depending on mood and lighting/substrate (and possibly water conditions). The older they get, the less bright the spots are.

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Mats

You got me. Im using google chrome and it has the spellcheck on it and i wasn't paying to much attention. I have a massive variate in just mine which all have the same parents. Theres some that have loads of really clear spots where as others are almost black and have barely any spots.

Who said the syno had too many spots for a multipunctata - how many should they supposedly have - i have never heard this before & i know a little bit about tanganyikan synos. Although it doesn't look absolutely typical i cannot see any of the characters which would indicate a hybrid & i think this is indeed a multipunctata (or the most advanced hybrid going): the tail is spot on, the dorsal has clearly defined light & dark areas (with no odd flecks of dark colour in the white area) - i'll stick with my first impression & say genuine multipunctata. Every one of them has a different pattern which changes as the fish grows/ages.

I will back Richard on this...I could not say for sure S or without making a pectoral fin ray count......the dorsal does look tall for me but that could just be as simple as the angle of the camera. As said the amount of spotting varies so much this is not a good indicator of species.

Birger