PlanetCatfish.com

Hi.
Some of you might think this a real n00bie question but.
Is Synodontis.velifer a German name for Synodontis eupterus or are they different species?
I though this at first but now I see the same two fish for sale in the same price listings of many LFS around Europe.
Fishbase.org even has them listed as different fish but I canâ??t see the differences.
Thanks.

No, they are separate species. The only thing in common for the two species is the high dorsal-fin. However, the dorsal fin in <i>S. velifer</i> has only the first two rays greatly elongate, not four or five as in <i>S. eupterus</i>. <i>Synodontis velifer</i> also lacks extensions on the fin rays (they are long, but don't have the filaments like in <i>S. eupterus</i>), and the color pattern consists of much larger spots than you see in <i>S. eupterus</i>.

Would you say this was S. velifer then?

A repeated question about ID sorry, but it looks a lot different to my other S. eupterus.


http://website.lineone.net/~delbod/upcat.JPG

That's an eupterus with some kind of dorsal-fin abnormality (the fin rays look kinked and are posibly the result of incomplete regrowth after damage). The spots on <i>S. velifer</i> are the size of those you see in <i>S. decorus</i>, and the dorsal fin would be much more triangular.

I wouldnâ??t know about injuries as I rescued it from a 10 gall tank with no heating and filtering just 1 air stone, my friend was glad to give me the fish because it was eating his guppies at the time.

Thanks.

It may have been bad water conditions/poor nutrition thet led to the growth deformity.

Any chance of S. velifer in the Cat-eLog soon?

Not likely. It's very rarely imported (if at all), as I've never seen one in the trade before.

Shame that. It also seems all the pictures I have seen on the web are in fact S. eupterus.

I don't know about elsewhere, but here juvenile S. eupterus are sold as S. velifer.