Opsodoras sp?

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 09 May 2005, 23:18

I'm digging through tanks trying to decide what to take to our fish club show and always wondered which sp. this one might be.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 09 May 2005, 23:36

Whoooooaaaaa!!!!!!

Syno something!??!

natefrog · Post by **natefrog** » 10 May 2005, 08:24

That is a very cool cat. It looks like a strange syno x Hancock's doradid, although I know cross family hybrids are virtually unknown and it is likley a syno. I would be very pleased to see one of these in my local LFS. How large is it and how did you aquire it?

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 10 May 2005, 09:23

Cool fish yes, but Synodontis? What makes you guys say that? To me it looks like the fish occasionally sold as "Opsodoras stubeli" (=Opsodoras stuebelii?).

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 10 May 2005, 12:03

It's a doradid clearly and although it shares the same colouration and similar barbles to the fish commonly sold as Opsodoras stubeli (I acknowledge I need to redo a number of IDs within this family) the head shap looks very different to me. Maybe it is the angle of the photo; or maybe not.

Dave, we need more pictures!

Jools

Post by **Silurus** » 10 May 2005, 12:06

The coloration is unlike any of the "Opsodoras stubeli" seen on the internet.

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 10 May 2005, 12:46

Sorry, that was a confusing post from me.

What I mean is this fish to which it has _similar_ colouration...

I'm not sure from Dave's pics if it is this or not. The head shape looks different. Looking again, the caudal fin colouration does look different.

Jools

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 10 May 2005, 14:57

Mike_Noren wrote:Cool fish yes, but Synodontis? What makes you guys say that?

The feathered barbels of course. In this case a very understandable mistake. It is indeed Opsodoras; exact species unknown to me. This is the fish I got when I ordered Trachydoras paraguayensis (see previous post).
Coming up: Doras eigenmanni. So what will I get next Thursday??? I'll keep you posted.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 10 May 2005, 15:12

It is indeed Opsodoras

I received an email from Mark Sabaj some years back about my pictured fish and he definately outruled Opsodoras stubeli and Doras eigenmanni...seems it is still an undescribed Genus+species. He thought it to be a kind of "Petalodoras" sp. which is not valid (if i remember right).

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 11 May 2005, 00:18

I said Syno because of the sketches, like this one:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/mo ... 1501_1.php

Just a thought.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 11 May 2005, 09:24

With Synodontis it's the lower-jaw (small) barbelks that are whiskered, with some doradids it's the opposite and the big barbels are whiskered.

then there's this row of scutes on the side wich no Synodontis has.

apart from those marks, the similarities are striking; perhaps there's a common ancestor back when Africa and South America where linked?

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 11 May 2005, 13:43

I think Jools has the picture above posting in his avatar sequence. I love both specimens so much!