Synodontis petricola proven true for me

[Birger]

I can safely say this is a female and male Synodontis petricola... I am working on looking very closely at the area around the humeral process (axillary pore or not) and am seeing small differences between the two species besides just whether or not it has the pore(the pore is tiny compared to Synodontis grandiops)...but have yet to get good photo documentation of what I want to show, have patience it will take a bit of time for me but I will show it here when (and if) I work it out.

[syno321]

Great news! Keep up the good work. When do I get them for breeding?

[Jools]

Nice project!

Jools

[Birger]

When do I get them for breeding?

When you have your new fishroom done...

Birger

[prairiefire]

I'm a bit confused ..Are you using the humeral process to determine the sex of the fish or to determine what species they are ?

[Birger]

I'm a bit confused ..Are you using the humeral process to determine the sex of the fish or to determine what species they are ?

Hi, sorry if I was not clear...sexing is easy...I have been looking very closely to identify the axillary pore which is very close to the humeral process to confirm these are really in fact petricola. The axillary pore is present on these newer fish I have, making them S. petricola...

I do often use the humeral process to help to identify different species of Synodontis as it is like a fingerprint for syno's...but here I started just for fun to compare these petricola to some lucipinnis I have not only for the shape of the humeral but the area surrounding the humeral hoping to miraculously find some other differences between the two species besides the difficult to spot axillary pore.

Is that more clear??


Another sort of related topic that is always nagging in my head and I have discussed mostly with syno321 is the possibility over the years of hybridization between the two species in tank raised fish and unfortunately the fish (both species) I have I can not say are wild. There is not any real confirmation hybridization is even possible that I know of...but my opinion is the males would have no qualms over chasing the females of the other species. A person would have to have both species wild caught and attempt to breed the two species to confirm it is in fact possible....

Birger

[prairiefire]

Thanks for clearing that up. I just started breeding syno's and am planning on getting more so trying to learn as much as I can.