S. Petricola Sp Dwarf W/pic

[jollysue]

I have 7 tank bred dwarf pets. No, not from a Czechoslovakian farm.

I was asked the scientific name. When I tried to find them on PlanetCatfish, it had changed from 2 or 3 years ago. Imagine that?

So I could not find them specifically.

Here are mine

I got them at about 3/4" Feb 2006

 

[fishfishfish]

yours have a striking resemblance to S caudalis.same basic spot pattern even though they are deff a "S petricola" but finding the right one may be difficult.mine look just like S irascae and luccipinis but your look nothing like mine.looks alot like Synodontis sp. (2)

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...species_id=1315

what do u think.i think it looks most like the S sp.

 

[jollysue]

It doesn't give the size. Also mine have the white peticola like edge on the dorsal and pectoral.

Did you look at this one?
S. lucipinnis


"Lake Tanganyika is renowned for its beautiful and unusual cichlids, but it has catfish all of its own too. Amongst these catfish are some of the most attractive, rare, interesting and expensive of all catfish in the aquarium hobby today. For a long time, Synodontis lucipinnis was known to be different from the similiar Synodontis petricola primarily as it was smaller in adulthood - hence the "working title" Synodontis sp. cf. petricola `dwarf`. Intriguingly, it is similar to other described catfish from the lake. The cuckoo catfish, Synodontis multipunctatus, is the most common import and you, occasionally, may also encounter S. polliem>, S. dhonti and S. tanganaicae. All sport the distinctive white barbels and are spotted as juveniles to some degree or other and thus another form of quick identification prevails - S. petricola and S. lucipinnis are the only species with a solid white leading dorsal and pectoral fin ray and the spotted body pattern. The number of spots can vary: the images above show a darker, more spotted 4" (SL) adult (above) and lighter, lesser spotted 1" / 2.5cm (SL) youngster (below). Although it is a dwarf form, S. lucipinnis has all the visual characteristics of S. petricola except, crucially when looking at younger fish, shows a light patch of colouration in the rayed fins."

[excerpted from the article above. High lights added]

This seems to match closest, so far--to me. What do you think? The more I look and reread it the more it seems right. I was kinda hopin for some exalted illumination from LL or CFC.

But of course glad to chat with you. fishfishfish. Thanks for chipping in. I value your input.

 

[jollysue]

Well, I went to the source, PlanetCatfish. My guess was correct: S. lucipinnus was the designation that they told me.

 

[fishfishfish]

mine look just like S irascae and luccipinis but your look nothing like mine.

i the only thing that troubles me is all the coneected dots scattered through them.either its a characteristic of the parents or its a parent that was of a oddball style.

 

[jollysue]

Did you look at the pics in the article I linked? It looks to me like they have connected dots in all three pics of different individual fish. And the article is expecting to show the typical dwarf pet/ false Cockatoo/ S. lucipinnus . Mine are still young for their species, I understand, and the dots will change as they mature. Mine have.

In my experience with fish, having bought species from different sources, fish tribes/families/whatever can vary widely even in the wild. They are not carbon copies of one another. Even within a family there are differences because of the gene pool, while there are even larger differences between one family and another, and even more in the boat load effect, ie captive tank breeding. If I decide to breed them, or they begin to breed, I will do my best to obtain some from another source, hopefully wild.

Until then I am satisfied that Planet Catfish correctly ID'd them as S. lucipinnus. I am notoriously poor at IDs, but these look just like the pics to me. I cannot see the differences you are seeing. I really did not get them as breeders and they are incredably healthy and resilient. They look like the breed to me and unless I can get a notable source to say otherwise, they are dwarf pets.