PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all.
I bought this guy around 9 mths ago from my lfs as a tank bred multi (black barbels instead of white). He wasn't expensive around, £7 and when I got him he was only about 4-4.5cm in total.
The guy in the shop is a really nice genuine guy and wouldn' try and pass something off as something it's not, hence the price and they were lovely fish and I couldn't help myself and got one.
In the 9mths I've had him he has grown fairly slowly and is now still only around 7-8cm in total, and has grown at no where near the rate of my euptera or nigrita, and as you can see in the pic he isn't much bigger than the cory.
He seems to be very mild mannered, to the extent that he was being beaten up by a ghost knife fish (which I got shot of as I couldn't have it upsetting my beloved synos.) He is also less shy than you'd expect for a small syno in a tank full of bigger dudes, including a big euptera, and a granny hybrid who at times can be a bit "sharp".
Going by the growth rate I don't expect him to get too big either.
The flash in the pics has kinda washed him out a bit, but he's a lovely colour,(I don't want to risk saying he's a "goldie" colour for fear of starting a bullion argument ) but he has a kind of bronzy,tone to him and all in all, is a very attractive fish and like all synos has a personality of his own making him a fave.
I think he was bred in the hybrid hotbed of the Czech republic and I haven't come across any others like him so far on my fish shop travels and have yet to see any on here.
The reason that I posted is really just to show him and maybe start a bit of discussion or debate, or even for folks to say "oooh I've not seen one of them before, he's lovely" or "oh no, not another pot licker for us to avoid"..............Info and discussion is what planet catfish is all about, after all.


cheers
Ian

Tanks for posting. The dorsal & caudal are spotted which true multis and grandiops dont have. The body is very similar in colour and pattern (although perhaps a bit chunky) and hybrids are getting a lot closer to the genuine species now

Richard B wrote:Tanks for posting. The dorsal & caudal are spotted which true multis and grandiops dont have. The body is very similar in colour and pattern (although perhaps a bit chunky) and hybrids are getting a lot closer to the genuine species now

Thanks Richard
I now know what to look for in real multis, and if and when I get one, I'll be getting it from one of the reputable online places where there would be little chance of it being a hybrid.
Although having said that, I wasn't really under any illusions when I bought it.
I've only returned to fish keeping in the last year or so after an absence of 30 years, and with the amount of fish available now compared to the early eighties I was like a kid in a sweetie shop with an immediate penchant for all things syno.
Patience went right out of the window and a "one of those, and one of them, and two of these" mentality took over.
Gives me the excuse to get more and bigger tanks though, so every cloud...

Ian

I was like a kid in a sweetie shop with an immediate penchant for all things syno.

Nothing terribly unusual but this fish does have some teethmarks on it from another synodontis, someone may be giving it a hard time, I would keep an eye on the little potlicker to make sure no places get scraped raw.

Birger

I've been watching him like a hawk for a few weeks now Birger, the wee guy has had it tough of late and to be honest I didn't hold out much hope for him a coupla weeks back.
He started behaving oddly and I noticed that my ghost knife was beating him up and kicked him out of his house.
A few mornings I found him just lying in the plants or lying on the sand and his tail looked "broken". I got rid of the knife but was concerned it was too little too late as the wee guy wasn't eating and was just lying around all day.
One of my other synos "Paloma" seemed to be nudging him about quite regularly but defo wasn't biting him as I was watching closely, but he still looked to be on his road out, plus like everyone else, I have no idea what goes on when the lights go out.
I assumed that the knife had damaged him in some way that wasn't clearly visible but I embarked on a mission of daily water changes just to try and give him the best of chances.
He still didn't eat for a few days and hung around with the coreys at the front of the tank looking a bit forlorn, until yesterday, when I noticed that he had moved back into his old digs, and when I knelt down to look in, he turned upside down and went up to the roof, which is more like his normal behaviour.
Last night at feeding time, I looked in and he was throwing a piece of prawn around and "wiring in" so he seems to be getting back to normal with regards to eating as well, which is brilliant as I have become quite attached to the wee guy, as I do with all of my treasured synos.

Apologies if I waffled on a bit there guys, but I couldn't help it, and at least you folks understand how these magnificent creatures end up taking over your life.
If I was to go on to anyone else about my synos the way that I can on here, they would look at me as if I needed "a wee holiday!!!!!!"

Maybe on another day with a bit of time I'll bore everyone to death with a huuuuuuge post about the joy of keeping these fish, from the point of view of a "Scottish Nutter" who isn't in it for the breeding, or the hope of discovering a rarity in a bargain bucket,or to become an authority, but for the sheer joy. (and that of couse isn't to say that there isn't joy to be had in breeding/finding a rarity, or even knowing which end is which once you have bred/found the aforementioned rarity, but these I must admit are beyond my own limitations as a fish keeper ).
So I'll just rave about how great they are.
They are incredible animals, each with their own personality and foibles, and each one as stunning as the next.
Most folk, when you tell them that you keep fish, invariably come out with the old chestnut "They're very relaxing, I'd fall asleep watching them". Whaaaaaaaaat????? I could never fall asleep in front of my tank........I might miss something..
As I said though, maybe another day and who knows, someone might enjoy reading my inane ramblings.

cheers
Ian

I must say I do enjoy your ramblings! I would listen to anybody ramble if it was about synos!

I also have a hybrid syno, who is the star of my tank! I don't know enough to reliably sex this fish, but we call "her" Domino, because of her coloring.

Congratulations on scoring a really special pet for your tank. Domino, is almost 9 inches long and gets alon beautifully with everyone else in my aquarium.