# Lucipinnis Tank mates



## Dru (Apr 5, 2006)

Hi people,

Recently I have discovered that my group of 4 Petricolas are actually Lucipinnis and also that they are at breeding age :dancing:

I've got 5 fry and currently are in a breeder trap at the top of my show tank.

I have a spare 70L tank which i hope to transfer the fry and the adults into to see how they get on.

My question is I would like to add a tanganikan pair of fish (something like a julidochromis species) that would be able to use the same space and be compatible.

Is this a sensible suggestion or are they likely to eat the lucipinnis eggs and fry ?

Cheers,

Dru.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Which lucipinnis are you asking about?
Paracyprichromis or Synodontis or another?


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## Dru (Apr 5, 2006)

24Tropheus said:


> Which lucipinnis are you asking about?
> Paracyprichromis or Synodontis or another?


whoops a daisy 

Synodontis


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## drungil14 (Jan 11, 2009)

With a 70L you dont have that much room for more than the synos, but if you put just the fry in there you might be able to house some of the smaller julie species like ornatus or regani with enough rock work.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

drungil14 said:


> With a 70L you dont have that much room for more than the synos, but if you put just the fry in there you might be able to house some of the smaller julie species like ornatus or regani with enough rock work.


+1

S. lucippinis will eat most of their own eggs and fry anyway.
No parental care.
You really need to collect the eggs using marbles and raise the young in another tank anyway.

I collect the eggs like this.
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k35/2 ... A60002.flv

If you give Julies (I would choise the dwarfs because your tank is small, that is ornatus or transcriptus) a man made cave or pot with an entrance too small for the Synos to get into then maybe you could get a pair to rear young in with the Synos. But I think you might need more room for this to work.

Funny enough I had some S.lucippinis young survive in a tank with L.multifasiatus I do not know but guess they survived because the cichlids protected the catfish fry from there own parents "thinking" they were cichlid fry. I guess the young catfish ate the multi young. 

But to get a good size brood of catfish, egg collecting is far more productive.

Yep for some reason the shops here still have not caught on that Synodontis have been re named.

The description of the "new" species Synodontis lucipinnis is the result of a genuine scientific work by JJ Wright and LL Page, 2006 Taxonomic revision of Lake Taganyikan Synodontis (Siluriformes: Mochokidae). Florida Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 46(4):99-154.

Abstract:

The taxonomy of the Synodontis of Lake Tanganykia was investigated by examining 312 museum specimens. Morphometric, meristic, and nontraditional internal and external characters were examined, resulting in the recognition of 11 species of Synodontis from Lake Tanganyika. Ten of the species are endemic to the lake basin, and three are new to science. Synodontis grandiops n. sp. is the most similar to S. multipunctatus but is distinguished by measurements of the eye (64.2-81.0% of snout length vs. 44.9-62.0% in S. multipunctatus) and pectoral-fin ray counts (7 vs. 8 in S. multipunctatus). Synodontis lucipinnis n. sp. is most similar to S. petricola but is distinguished by the lack if an axillary pore and the presence of light-colored windows at the bases of the rayed fins. Synodontis ilebrevis n. sp. is most similar to S. polli but is distinguished by the absence of a hindgut chamber, the shortness of the gut (0.8-1.4 times TL in S. ilebrevis vs. 4.0-5.5 times TL in S. polli), and the presence of short, flattend papillae on the skin (vs. villous papillae in S. polli).

Species recognized as valid in this work include:

S. dhonti
S. grandiops n. sp.
S. granulosus
S. ilebrevis n. sp.
S. irsacae
S. lucipinnis n. sp.
S. melanostictus
S. mulitpunctatus
S. petricola
S. polli
S. tanganaicae

in our hobby it turns out that yes, the famous popular Zambian "dwarf petricola" is the lucipinnis and the more rare elongated even spotted version that comes from Burundi, but also from Tanzania, Congo and Zambia (!!) is the true petricola.

The easiest way to keep them apart is the spots. the lucipinnis (dwarf petricola) has an uneven pattern of mixed large and small spots, whereas the true petricola has a very even pattern of small spots or large spots.
Bodyshape differs too but this is hard to see unless you can put specimen from both species together. S. petricola also grow to 6" S. lucipinnis to 4".

Toby Veal, collected a mixed batch in southern Zambia from a single location, which means that petricola and lucipinnis occur together, sympatric, which means we really have to deal with 2 species, not a local variety.

 sorry for the un asked for lecture. I guess you found this out yourself when you founf fish sold to you as petricola were really lucipinnis like me?

Just glad they did not turn out to be hybrid. :thumb:


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