Maelys the flash zebra catfish (Brachyplatystoma juruense) growout thread
- Thread starter Chicxulub
- Start date
Yeah flash is just a marketing thing. A few years ago there were a few massive threads on this and it was pretty clear that what constituted a "flash" was purely and entirely in the eyes of the beholder. It's worth noting that all three morphs of juruense are caught along side of each other in the same places. I am firmly convinced that the term "flash zebra" needs to die and be replaced by more accurate descriptions of the pattern of the fish: striped juruense, mosaic juruense, and tiger juruense. I intend to use my influence to start a campaign to bring this about in the hobby soon.
I'll wager almost anything that in a year or two when my fish is as large, my fish will look very similar to
T1KARMANN
's absolutely gorgeous mosaic juruense. My boy is still only about 6".
I'll wager almost anything that in a year or two when my fish is as large, my fish will look very similar to
T1KARMANN
's absolutely gorgeous mosaic juruense. My boy is still only about 6".
From what I know there is 2 different fish locations
The normal juruense and the flash zebra juruense
The normal juruense has a more off white stripe making it look like a dirty tig
The flash zebra has more of a yellow gold stripes
I resurched this a lot when I got mine as I also thought there was no difference or it was something they eat in the wild that gave them a yellow trait
When I started looking into them I had 2 both normal ones and the stripes where white
Then a shop called pier had a flash zebra and it was much more money and it did have the yellow stripes
This video is a flash
Take a look at this one it's a flash zebra
The normal juruense and the flash zebra juruense
The normal juruense has a more off white stripe making it look like a dirty tig
The flash zebra has more of a yellow gold stripes
I resurched this a lot when I got mine as I also thought there was no difference or it was something they eat in the wild that gave them a yellow trait
When I started looking into them I had 2 both normal ones and the stripes where white
Then a shop called pier had a flash zebra and it was much more money and it did have the yellow stripes
This video is a flash
Take a look at this one it's a flash zebra
Yes, prettier jurs tend to be called flash zebras. However, Brachyplatystoma juruense has a pretty wildly varying assortment of patterns and colors, but they are still only one type of fish. Fish called flash zebras are still Brachyplatystoma juruense, but ones that people think look nice. The yellow ones and the normal looking ones can be caught side by side in the exact same waters. All jurs tend to get yellower and more boldly patterned as they get larger. The second fish posted above is representative of the "normal" juruense with boring straight stripes when it grows to adulthood.
There isn't even anything approaching a consensus in this community as to what constitutes a FZ versus a jur, because they're the exact same fish lol. When this was discussed ad nauseum a few years ago, there were many instances of person A showing an example of a normal jur, and person B would state that they felt that said fish was actually a FZ, and vice versa.
Flash zebras don't exist. They're just jurs. All of these fish are the same thing, just at different places on a spectrum of the possible. Flash zebra is a marketing ploy, plain and simple. All jurs get better patterning and coloration when they grow (note that there are never juvenile flash zebras, only gorgeous adults. Why is that?)
I intend to prove this over the next year or two.
There isn't even anything approaching a consensus in this community as to what constitutes a FZ versus a jur, because they're the exact same fish lol. When this was discussed ad nauseum a few years ago, there were many instances of person A showing an example of a normal jur, and person B would state that they felt that said fish was actually a FZ, and vice versa.
Flash zebras don't exist. They're just jurs. All of these fish are the same thing, just at different places on a spectrum of the possible. Flash zebra is a marketing ploy, plain and simple. All jurs get better patterning and coloration when they grow (note that there are never juvenile flash zebras, only gorgeous adults. Why is that?)
I intend to prove this over the next year or two.
I got 10 jurs from snookn21 at ~2" about half a year ago. Lost one to hungry GATF school. Out of the remaining 9, one has unusual pattern. Eight are ordinarily beautiful. I need to film them. The special one has been heavily changing its pattern, right now having one bold horizontal light-colored area. Shocking!
They are 6"-8" now. The special one has always been the biggest and fastest growing but when babies, they were indistinguishable.
Please tag me when you post that video my friend!
Great read and very informative. Sprry about the rough patch man. Hope everything is looking up for you.
Man that fish is beautiful. Im reseaeching med sized cats and your making me want a jur even more now.
What other cats are you keeping yours with ?
And thx for the explaination on the term flash zebra im really inexperienced with cats and thought it was a different fish or catch location variant
Man that fish is beautiful. Im reseaeching med sized cats and your making me want a jur even more now.
What other cats are you keeping yours with ?
And thx for the explaination on the term flash zebra im really inexperienced with cats and thought it was a different fish or catch location variant
My pleasure! Glad I could be of help!
For now, I don't have this jur with any other cars. He shares a 150 with a young black arowana.
I'm hoping to do a writeup on Brachyplatystoma soon.
Omg Viktor! That's incredible! I suspect that you have all three versions of juruense patterning in that group. That oddball is absolutely incredible. I am eagerly awaiting to see this group of fish grown out in a couple of years, it could easily prove my hypothesis. All if these fish came from the same collection, correct?
Also, this video strongly encourages me to test the soft water hypothesis! Your soft water jurs have much better patterning than anything I've seen anywhere else. Correlation doesn't always imply causation, but it sure is a hell of a starting point for research!
Also, fwiw, these are representative of what I consider to be the three morphs of juruense. I call mosaic juruense, tiger juruense and straight juruense. Honestly, we may need a fourth category for "oddballs" for fish like yours Viktor! Pic courtesy of Ray of Amazing Fish.
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