One Mighty Active Synodontis Catfish

[This Younger Spouse]

Hey all:

This is the first Synodontis cat I've had, and while it does its share or resting in rock caves, when it gets active, it gets REALLY active. At fish feeding time, it'll invert and swim back and forth at the surface, and will also work its way quickly up and down the glass faces. It seems to like current quite a lot, too. When it's active, it swims right up against the filter outflow, often splashing water up. The cat is about 3 inches long.

Have I got a cat on methamphetamines, or is this pretty normal for the genus?

It's in a 55-gallon with two small Jack Dempseys, two small Firemouths (the FMs about to be rehomed in a new tank), and a Bristlenose Pleco.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Do you know which species of Synodontis it is?

Here's a link to a common type, with a pull-down menu to see plenty of others...
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=121

Some synos are very active, like my ~8" S. decora, when he wakes up in the evening and he/she patrols the whole 560l tank. On the other hand, my S. brichardi is quite happy either chilling out in his/her bogwood cave or current surfing in front of a 5000lph powerhead circulating along the tank floor. My S. nigriventris are somewhere inbetween when they wake up in the evening, usually strolling around the 240l upside down, but then can suddenly put the "pedal to the metal" and zoom around their 4-foot tank at rocket speed!

 

[This Younger Spouse]

In general, it looks much like a lucipinnis, multipunctata or njasse. There are half a dozen or more contenders.

But I have to wait for it to come out to play before I can tell if the fins have white edges or not. One way or another, that'll help me narrow it down somewhat. I'll get a picture when I can and post it.

 

[This Younger Spouse]

I've had several good looks at the cat, and I'm not going to be able to ID it without posting pics. I'll try to get some. Problem is, when it's out in the open, it's zooming hither and yon. When it's at rest, it's in the dark recesses. I'll soldier on, however.

It's a dead ringer to three or four of the cats in the supplied link (and thanks for that!), and if you add the possibility that it's a juvie, you also add a few more potential species.

It is, however, about 3 inches long, with a white/ivory base color and many black circles and blotches that are pretty large. Bought at a LSF in northern Minnesota. Wonder if anyone knows what the more common species of Synodontis genus cats available commercially within the trade might be. Ones that look like the species I mentioned earlier.

 

[MartinS]

Sorry to say but I'd suggest looking at some the hybrids that are available everywhere these days. Most likely Synodontis sp. hybrid(1) or Synodontis sp. hybrid(4). I may be wrong, but seeing how many of these are being sold and people asking for IDs, I'd be surprised if it wasn't one!
Martin

 

[This Younger Spouse]

Thanks for the great help. Here's a pic for you all. Of the six fish currently in my 55 gallon, the cat definitely has the most personality.

 

[This Younger Spouse]

It sure does look like sp hybrids 1 and 4, doesn't it?

 

[fishguy2727]

I had a jaguar hybrid synodontis that did the same thing. He would swim laps in the tanks, almost the same every time, only a couple routine variations. It was nonstop. Eventually he outgrew it (stopped for some reason) and acted more like a synodontis, hiding until feeding time.

 

[MartinS]

It sure does look like sp hybrids 1 and 4, doesn't it?

Sad to say it but yes it does indeed. Sp(1) has the tall dorsal fin of S.eupteras, but it has different markings from sp(4) - either way, it's definitely a hybrid

 

[This Younger Spouse]

Help me out here. Why is it sad that it's a hybrid? I've never had a cat like this before and have a lot to learn about them.

 

[MartinS]

OK, the reason it's sad is several-fold:

Firstly, to produce the hybrids, hormones are used to induce spawning. The females are then hand-stripped of eggs, in nearly all cases causing the death of the female.
Secondly the species 'mixed' are often from different water/environments, i.e. using african lake synos with riverine species to get the best 'look' and
Thirdly because they are sold to many unsuspecting aquarists (and often aquatic stores) as genuine synos.

not everyone will agree that it's a sad thing - I for one wish the eastern european countries who are prevalent in the production of these fish could be banned from doing so, or at least enough fish stores and aquarists refuse to buy them to stop the trade - we did it with painted glassfish...

Martin

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

My LFS had some ~5cm catfish labelled as Synodontis decora, which I hoped to buy to give my ~18cm adult some "friends" (S. decora is apparently quite a social fish, by Syno standards). However, when I looked at the fish yesterday, several things looked wrong compared to a true S. decora...

• Not all barbels had branches (only three Synodontis species show this property)
• The dorsal fin did not have a trailing extension (unique to this species)
• The tail should have had a vaguely vertical stripe black/white stripe pattern that developes into a horizontal striping as the fish gets older. These fish had inner black patches, with an outline of white, like Rift Valley catfish

I took a video clip of the tank and got them IDed as Synodontis sp. (5), the Valantine Synodontis. As MartinS has already said, pretty sad that a poor female catfish was killed to produce these mutants, which I had to leave at the shop (as there would be no guarantee they hybrids would be social).

 

[fishguy2727]

I don't think you have to use hormones AND hand breed them to get them to breed. You can get each in breeding condition and then hand breed them OR use hormones to get them to breed when they normally wouldn't (with different species). In addition, hand breeding shouldn't cause death if done properly.

So unless the fish are not cared for properly during all this, which is a shame with or without hybrids being involved.

All fish end up in a captive environment, regardless of their natural habitat. So the fact that you MAY use rift lake and riverine doesn't really effect anything IMO since either species would end up in the same tank.

Past that it is a moral decision about hybrids. IMO the idea of a hybrid in many cases in moot since they are not hybrids depending the definition of a species you use. Some definitions mean that any combination that can produce fertile offspring are not hybrids but are really the same species to begin with (they are subspecies, not actually different species). I don't know if hybrid Synos are fertile though.

 

[This Younger Spouse]

Thanks for the perspectives!