S. njassae

[Dave Rinaldo]

Just picked this one up today from
Dave's Rare Aquarium Fish

3.5" SL

He needs a good meal!

[Birger]

He needs a good meal!

He sure does...hopefully it is nothing internal and some good care will fix it right up
I guess that would be considered the small spot variety

Birger

[Richard B]

He also looks like he's had his fins snipped to get him out of a net - left pectoral certainly. Really nice fish though - can we have a pic in a couple of weeks when settled & well fed?

[syno-kev]

this one must of been wild caught and shipped direct from africa ,
as they do not feed them for about 2 or 3 days before shipping to prevent water polution in transit and some do get caught in the large catch nets and have to be cut out but he will be ok in a month or so ,
you will have to send another picture for comparison in about 4-6 weeks .
but he does look nice !

[Richard B]

How's he doin' Dave?

[Dave Rinaldo]

Hasn't grown much.

I need to feed more!

4" SL

[Birger]

Hasn't grown much.

I need to feed more!

Definitely looks to be in much better shape though.

[Richard B]

Thats lookin' sooo much better now, even if length hasn't increased much.

Obviously TLC is freely available at "chez Rinaldo"

[sidguppy]

great fish

don't worry if it doesn't really show growth in lenth; these Riftlake Syno's are there for the long run.

if it has a growthrate compatible with granulosus or true petricola, you can wait till it's 15 or 20 years old for the maximum size.
they reach 2/3rd of their maximum size and sexual maturity in 6-10 years or so, but to reach the full length some of these really push it to the limit

the huge granulosus that spend 35 years at Verduijns and then died managed to reach the length quoted in the Catelog.
about 1 foot TL or so; 10" SL give or take a bit.

it was imported as a 7-8" adult 35 years ago......and needed all those years to reach the final mark. about the true age of that particular fish none of us (me, the Verduijns) haven't got a clue, but we can safely assume it was at least pushing 40 when it died.

njassae is likely to be less extreme than that.
but don't hold your breath while waiting for whole inches to add within a single year!

[Richard B]

the huge granulosus that spend 35 years at Verduijns and then died managed to reach the length quoted in the Catelog.
about 1 foot TL or so; 10" SL give or take a bit.

it was imported as a 7-8" adult 35 years ago......and needed all those years to reach the final mark. about the true age of that particular fish none of us (me, the Verduijns) haven't got a clue, but we can safely assume it was at least pushing 40 when it died.

Sid - If it was 35 years @ Verduijns & came in 7-8", could it not be a hell of a lot older than 40 That particular syno has gotta be the oldest i've heard of from a genuine source.

Sorry it's off topic

[Dave Rinaldo]

Wow! It's been four years already!

Only 4.25" SL now.

[jippo]

Real beauty!!!

[bassgenie]

I have 2 of the small spot variety in my 72 Gallon. Very active cats. Really nice fish!

[coelacanth]

The four fish we obtained from Mike's Rifts have proven to be great additions to the reworked display. There are plenty of cichlid fry appearing so they're not having any noticeable impact there, but the snails that were present appear to have been sent to meet their maker. Although these particular fish were apparently collected from a sandy area, they've taken to the rockwork-heavy Mbuna display with ease. The cichlids don't like them being around the courtship sites so chases are frequent but there's no sign of any injuries of any type. They've plumped up nicely and the colour has darkened slightly, but there hasn't been that much change in length compared to what you get in some Synos. Currently my favourite Synos due to their activity levels.