PlanetCatfish.com

I bought a fish tank two weeks ago second hand and it came with its fish... This included this beautiful (I think) syno... After hours ploughing through websites and pictures trying to establish the exact species the best guess I have is a granny? You all obviously know the real deal from hybrids guys, am I close?

This is a hybrid fish

Granulosa have white areas to the rear of the fins (in the soft finnage). They do not have white leading edges (hard ray) like the fish in the picture.

agreed

it looks like there's a lot of petricola/lucipinnis in it, but the overall bodyshape isnt like a true petricola/lucipinnis, especially not the head and the lack of many spots.

shame
it does look pretty, but it probably costed a fraction of the money that a true granny would cost; for the wholesalers that is.

the whole hybrid scam is good for those who create and sell them and the wholesalers, because they too are in on the deal; they sure know if they order straight from Tanganyika or from Eastern Europe ofcourse

most of the time the LFS however does not; they just order 'granulosa' or another Riftlake Syno species (njassae are notorious for this) , pay prices that fit those and end up with these mutts.

i really hope you didn't pay a "granulosa price" for it.....


apart from being a scam, the fish would be easy to take care of; hybrids -unless misshaped- are tough as nails and easy to keep.

Thanks for that. I have very little experience or knowledge of catfish and so wen I bought the second hand tank and it had this cat in it, knowing certain species require special food accessories and can be aggressive to other types of fish, I thought I best check it out to make sure it had the right care etc. I paid no extra for it and irregardless of whether it is a granulosa or not I think its a really good looking cat and has real character. Thanks again guys really appreciate it

you got it for free?

then it's a bargain.
it looks pretty good

if you plan on setting up a Rift Lake tank (Malawi, Tanganyika), this catfish will do just fine.

likely, given the fact that 1 of the parent species is likely granulosa, it will be quite visible and able to cope with active cichlids.