Hi I need to find out information

[Wtd68]

Hi i have been keeping rift valey cichlids for about 5 years now along with these fish i have also had variouse cat fish from the lake however i purchased some about 3 years ago as Syno Petricola from a shop in Belgium he had the fish in a tank marked up as mixed Syno's.
Well after a few months i discovered that i didn't have petricola!!! but a cat fish which was like syno Multipunctatus however i have frends who have and breed Multipunctatus but they are different to the ones i have. My fish are smaller in size they are about 3" to 4" total length I have been told by one source that they are called Zambian Gold eyes but can find no reference to this species
so does any body know what i have??? I know they coockoo spawn because i am breeding them with some Malawi cichlids but it would be nice to give them an official name.

many thanks

Winston Damerum.

[Dinyar]

The official name is "Synodontis multipunctatus". Fish from the south of the lake (Zambian waters) look a little different from those from the North. "Zambian Gold" sounds like an illegal substance to me, but I have heard similar names for Zambian S. multipunctatus.

Dinyar

[Wtd68]

Thanks but where is the official information about this sub or infact could be new species?
i don't think this is just a colour variation as it is half the size of any of my frends Syno Multipuncs and seems to be more active in the tank.

[Dinyar]

I'm not sure what you have in mind for "official information". I'm not even sure I can point you to a lot of unofficial information. But take a look at the pix of S. cf. multipunctatus in the Planet Catfish Catalog. This fish should not IMO be called "cf. multipunctatus", as it's pretty clearly a multipunctatus, just a regional "tribe".

Dinyar

[Sid Guppy]

I second that; most 'species' of multipunctatus are pretty much the same, except size and backgroundcolor, and sometimes the yes are smaller too.

AFAIK there are two "species" of Synodontis multipunctatus; they can be separated by their fry and belly-pattern:
#I: one (the big boisterous whitish fish we know as multipunctatus) has black fry -when it's still in the cichlid mouth- once it leaves the host, it's a tiny spotted syno, complete with white edged fins and all.
#II: The other has orange fry with two "V" markings on top, but this one too, is changed into a mini-multi once out of the host. It's a smaller species when mature and very yellow in color. It's got spots on its' belly! (S multipunctatus is famous for having a white spotless belly as sole Tangsyno...)

I know several variations of S multipunctatus, but since I never saw fry from those, so I don't know if they're species I or II ....