Confirm The Id Please, Think It's A Cukoo

Hi, would you please confirm the id of this (Cukoo)spelling?? catfish it is black in colour with white tips to its fins.
Also what numbers should they be kept in in a 4ft x 1.5ft tank.
Thanks.

Hard to see from the pics but if it has smaller spots in the front -
graduating to larger spots towards the rear of the body then I believe
it is a Synodontus Petricola.

They do grow to 5" or more so 3 or 4 in your tank would be good

Looks like syno Petricola or Lucipinnis, I'd lean more towards Lucipinnis as the spots look quite big and randomly spaced. Petricola seem to have smaller spots in neater lines. From talking to various LFS people and breeders, most of the dwarf cuckoo cats in the UK are actually Lucipinnis but often get mis-labelled as petricola. They're both gorgeous little catfish though and great to watch, if a little shy- worth fitting a dim moonlight to see them come out to play after tha main lights go out.

They max out at about 4 inches, do best in groups of 3+, the more the better. They can be quite rough with each other so make sure they are all of a similar size, I had one that was smaller than the rest and the biggest one did it quite a lot of damage, ate away all its barbels and tail. Had to euthanise it

They do seem to be pretty hardy in terms of recovering from injuries, mine have lost barbels and they grow back in 2-3 weeks, but the water quality needs to be kept in tip-top condition.

When they start fighting or get startled they emit a high pitched rattle-snake like noise, bit freaky the first time you hear it!

Thanks

definitely a kukoo

Red Betta said:

definitely a kukoo

Click to expand...

As in Synodontis mulipunctata? I have my doubts with that, the leading dorsal ray being and pectoral rays being white would make me immediately think of either Synodontis petricola or lucipinnis, which are then differentiated by by seeing if the blacks spots are the same shape on the head and body or smaller on the head.