PlanetCatfish.com

Hi,

yesterday I come home with 5 new Synodontis.
The seller(private person)have buyed these fishes some years before in Germany as wild caught. No more details...

First photos from above:






M1: male, very light-coloured, fine spotted (size approx. 12 cm)
M2: male, same body shape but not so fine spotted and a little bit darker coloured
M3: male, body shape looks differently (I think), smaller than the other fishes and irregular spotted
F1: female, spotted as M2
F2: female, fine spotted as M1 but not so light coloured, colour looks like metallic

Better photos following as soon as possible...

First opinions are welcome!

pictures from the side are a must.

but going on pattern I'd say these are all petricola.

petricola as well as lucipinnis are very variable.

usually lucipinnis has an uneven pattern of larger and smaller spots and petricola has an even spotted pattern of large OR small spots.

this is NOT counting the head; almost ALL spotted Tanganyikan Syno's have small spots on the head and larger on the body.

the problems are these:
southern Zambia imports can be mixed! I've seen fresh imports still in transit boxes arrive at Verduijn and both species are caught at the same location. at one occasion 6 different species arrived in 1 sending from 1 catching station
lucipinnis, polli, petricola, "polli White Zambia wildcaughts, dhonti/tanganicae and irsacae. I was there to sort em out; not an easy job, mind

they can and do breed quite easily. so even if someone tells you they are wildcaught they might be bred. although the true petricola is a fair bit harder to breed than the easier lucipinnis, it's not impossible at all. I've bred both species and once you got the spawning, you're up to the eyebrows in baby cats in no time at all

when kept together in numbers they tend to fight (own experience), but I think a sole petricola can breed with a sole lucipinnis.
but when both species are mixed in the same tank, for some reason they recognise each other as 'different' and petricola individuals are shunned by lucipinnis. there is however no guarantee that all fishes are 100% pure species if somneone's word is all you have.

petricola are usually much more elongated than lucipinnis, but we really need a side view to spot that.

Hi Sid!

Thank you for your comments and please excuse my late answer. Last months i haven´t had time to make better pictures.

Last friday the male "M2" spawn together with the female "F1".
So i am sure these to fishes are the same species. If i see correctly, the two other males don´t spawn with these female.

I´ve made a video!

In the first cut scene you can see spawn the male "M2" with female "F1". In the backround the other males "M1" and "M3" and S. grandiops. In the end of the clip the female "F2" in the front...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaQZ4lGyvys[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaQZ4lGyvys

Two cuts to better see the males "M1" and "M3", which was not interested to spawn with the female, but the was interested to eat the eggs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EXyYZIbAmM[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EXyYZIbAmM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsdIRUHzKhk[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsdIRUHzKhk

I think these are real petricola and not lucipinnis.

Phyllonemus wrote:I think these are real petricola and not lucipinnis.

Dont agree.

The first video shows 2 fish with irregular spotted sides (M2 and F1) which to me shouts Lucipinnis.
The second video shows 1 fish in the flower pot which I think is a petricola and the lower fish which I think is a lucipinnis. (M1 and M3)
The third video I think are of lucipinnis. (irregular spotted)