Does anyone know where exactly from Lake Tanganyika do dwarf <i>S. petricola</i> come from?
I was looking at some petricolas from the southern tip of the lake, thinking that they might be dwarves, but they are apparently not. They also do not appear to be the real petricola.
Where exactly do dwarf petricolas come from?
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Silurus
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Dinyar
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See the post by SidGuppy (aka SG_Eurystomus) in this thread from the Cichlid Forum:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... warf#50742
He says dwarf petricola comes from Zambia. I can neither confirm or refute this. However, I've sent an email to the importer of my dwarf petris asking where he got his from.
I'm also unsure of the provenance of the "giant" petricola, though Sid says this is a Tanzanian fish. Could be. I agree with Sid (and disagree with Erwin) in thinking this fish is closer to S. petricola than to S. tanganaicae (though it admittedly DOES bear some resemblancce to the latter).
The non-dwarf/non-giant petri (or petris, could be more than one type/species) are not necesarily from Burundi. I have Zambian specimens also.
I also have fish that stradddle an apparent petricola-polli continuum. These might be the species that Sid calls "polli II" and some importers call "S. eurystomus".
Can't catch and photograph ALL my petris and petri suspects, but will try to post the pix I have on hand.
Dinyar
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... warf#50742
He says dwarf petricola comes from Zambia. I can neither confirm or refute this. However, I've sent an email to the importer of my dwarf petris asking where he got his from.
I'm also unsure of the provenance of the "giant" petricola, though Sid says this is a Tanzanian fish. Could be. I agree with Sid (and disagree with Erwin) in thinking this fish is closer to S. petricola than to S. tanganaicae (though it admittedly DOES bear some resemblancce to the latter).
The non-dwarf/non-giant petri (or petris, could be more than one type/species) are not necesarily from Burundi. I have Zambian specimens also.
I also have fish that stradddle an apparent petricola-polli continuum. These might be the species that Sid calls "polli II" and some importers call "S. eurystomus".
Can't catch and photograph ALL my petris and petri suspects, but will try to post the pix I have on hand.
Dinyar
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Sid Guppy
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Heck, I'm not omnipotent either! 
And I take the info on the fishes given by those who imported them as granted (wich means if someone shows me for example a specific syno, and I ask where it's from, they say Burundi, I have to take that at face value...)
I haven't been at the lake yet!
That will be remedied, but it'll take some time (years likely) before I can be truly sure about the origin of many cats if I ever will. Need to get my PADI first; snorkeling won't get me deep enough by any stetch...
So far I've known from people who HAVE been at the lake, and from a few others that the dwarf petricola has a Zambian origin. However it's still a true strain, I don't know; there are many 'petricola's' imported; and within the varieties there is much difference. This seems very logical to me; one animal doesn't have the same DNA blue print as another. We should take care not to fall into this pit: many fishspecies with variety have been split into numerous species by scientists; sometimes it seems to me a single scale missing or a spot on another fin: Voila; another species. (that's probably happening with Aulonocara for example; like it did with Aphyosemion)
The petricola "big 'uns" (as Al Bundy would say
) have been imported AT LEAST from Tanzania as far as I know; but I do NOT know if they can be caught elsewhere too!
One species of 'petricola' is fairly well known: the stretched and even spotted "Burundi" variety: it's the one appearing in many books; and a very recent Burundi batch of Synodontis by a well known and very good LFS over here; yielde that fish (and yes; I had to restain myself; that's ONE pretty catfish!), as well as true multipunctatus, true polli's (the brown ones like mine and the Cat e Log's), dhonti's and granulosus. I've seen fish very like them from Tanzanian origin; but, hey; Tanzania is big; if they were caught in the north near the Burundi border; it still fits!
The "Polli II's" wich are bred by Rene are definitely from ZAmbia; he IS experienced in that, and has been scubadiving many times in Tanganyika. I've got some underwaterpics from him, showing several syno-species; among them multipunctatus, a shoal of granulosus (!) and some 'petricola/polli' looking syno;s too.
And I take the info on the fishes given by those who imported them as granted (wich means if someone shows me for example a specific syno, and I ask where it's from, they say Burundi, I have to take that at face value...)
I haven't been at the lake yet!
That will be remedied, but it'll take some time (years likely) before I can be truly sure about the origin of many cats if I ever will. Need to get my PADI first; snorkeling won't get me deep enough by any stetch...
So far I've known from people who HAVE been at the lake, and from a few others that the dwarf petricola has a Zambian origin. However it's still a true strain, I don't know; there are many 'petricola's' imported; and within the varieties there is much difference. This seems very logical to me; one animal doesn't have the same DNA blue print as another. We should take care not to fall into this pit: many fishspecies with variety have been split into numerous species by scientists; sometimes it seems to me a single scale missing or a spot on another fin: Voila; another species. (that's probably happening with Aulonocara for example; like it did with Aphyosemion)
The petricola "big 'uns" (as Al Bundy would say
) have been imported AT LEAST from Tanzania as far as I know; but I do NOT know if they can be caught elsewhere too!One species of 'petricola' is fairly well known: the stretched and even spotted "Burundi" variety: it's the one appearing in many books; and a very recent Burundi batch of Synodontis by a well known and very good LFS over here; yielde that fish (and yes; I had to restain myself; that's ONE pretty catfish!), as well as true multipunctatus, true polli's (the brown ones like mine and the Cat e Log's), dhonti's and granulosus. I've seen fish very like them from Tanzanian origin; but, hey; Tanzania is big; if they were caught in the north near the Burundi border; it still fits!
The "Polli II's" wich are bred by Rene are definitely from ZAmbia; he IS experienced in that, and has been scubadiving many times in Tanganyika. I've got some underwaterpics from him, showing several syno-species; among them multipunctatus, a shoal of granulosus (!) and some 'petricola/polli' looking syno;s too.
Plan B should not automatically be twice as much explosives as Plan A