Flagtail puckering up for the camera

islandguy11

Redtail Catfish
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Sep 17, 2017
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There is a few species of the semiprochilodus genus. Most of the flagtails that comes to europe is S. Insignis and they dont grow as fast as S. Taeniurus and is easy to id when larges as taeniurus still keeps its spot on the body and insignis looses its spots.
Then youve got semaprochilodus laticeps wich grows largen then the other two species ive mentioned.

Ive got an taeniurus that have grown from 3cm to 17cm in 1.5 year.
That's interesting Tobias, Thx for sharing, I hadn't heard of S. laticeps. But while it's easy to tell the difference between S. Inssignis and S. Taeniurus, after more investigation I have found it quite confusing how to tell difference between S. Laticeps and S. Taeniurus -- any idea?

In fact it's confusing because many online sources mis-identify the fish -- this place selling them in Germany hits on the issue: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/semaprochilodus_laticeps_en/:

"We received wonderful Semaprochilodus from Venezuela. Sadly there was a lot of confusion regarding the correct identification of species of Semaprochilodus in the aquarium literature and in the internet. So S. laticeps – this determination is without doubts correct – is illustrated most often under the names of S. taeniurus (this is a different species from Brazil) or S. theraponura (this species is currently regarded to be a synonym of S. insignis and originates from Peru). We have listed the species under the name of S. taeniurus for that reasons. "

1376617

So what I think they are saying is that the above fish is actually a s. laticeps but they're selling it as s. taeniurus because that's what most people think it is...But I have no idea if what they're saying is correct, I'm confused lol.

Edit: And after reading this article: http://www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=30278 I'm even more confused -- I thought I had a S. Taeniurus, but this page says I have a S. Insignius -- if that's true why is my FT growing so fast?
 
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Tobiassorensen

Blue Tier VIP
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Jul 23, 2017
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That's interesting Tobias, Thx for sharing, I hadn't heard of S. laticeps. But while it's easy to tell the difference between S. Inssignis and S. Taeniurus, after more investigation I have found it quite confusing how to tell difference between S. Laticeps and S. Taeniurus -- any idea?

In fact it's confusing because many online sources mis-identify the fish -- this place selling them in Germany hits on the issue: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/semaprochilodus_laticeps_en/:

"We received wonderful Semaprochilodus from Venezuela. Sadly there was a lot of confusion regarding the correct identification of species of Semaprochilodus in the aquarium literature and in the internet. So S. laticeps – this determination is without doubts correct – is illustrated most often under the names of S. taeniurus (this is a different species from Brazil) or S. theraponura (this species is currently regarded to be a synonym of S. insignis and originates from Peru). We have listed the species under the name of S. taeniurus for that reasons. "

View attachment 1376617

So what I think they are saying is that the above fish is actually a s. laticeps but they're selling it as s. taeniurus because that's what most people think it is...But I have no idea if what they're saying is correct, I'm confused lol.

I dont know how to tell the diffrence. Mine is from glaser actually. Mine is still to small to tell if it is a true tainiurus but it hasnt lost its spots yet. Im hoping for a laticeps cuz they grow larger.
But mine doesnt show any sign of having a growthspurt at all now. To my eyes it has stand still at 17cm for some months now. Not much coloring up either. Ive been told by some fellow fishkeepers that they start to color up fully when hitting 20cm or above. And ive kind of lost the interest in this fish since i got my hands on some large growing barbs like leptobarbus hoevenii/rubripinna and hypsibarbus wetmorei. Ive got an leptobarbus around 35-40cm and an wetmorei at almost 60cm.
 
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