New obsession!

[Fishman Dave]

Does anyone know the difference between Silurus soldatovi and Silurus merdionalis? I’m seeing Wes list his wels as soldatovi but predatory fins is labeling as merdionalis. Not much Info out there for anything besides true wels. Frustrating.

Would be interested to see photos.
meridionalis should I believe look Like a juvenile wells bit I think both jaws when young would be similar in length. Whereas the soldatovi should have a more extended head and the bottom jaw should be clearly longer than the top, even when young.
not sure how accurate this is but not much out there to go on.
Meridionalis are maybe a metre long fish ( although I think a little bigger may be possible personally) but soldatovi is reported to grow to four meters.

Would be interested to see photos.
meridionalis should I believe look Like a juvenile wells bit I think both jaws when young would be similar in length. Whereas the soldatovi should have a more extended head and the bottom jaw should be clearly longer than the top, even when young.
not sure how accurate this is but not much out there to go on.
Meridionalis are maybe a metre long fish ( although I think a little bigger may be possible personally) but soldatovi is reported to grow to four meters.

The one I see on predatory fins in my opinion is meridionalis.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I am not aware of anyone ever offering or keeping soldatovi. If Wes has them listed, I'd be keen on finding out the ID details, etc.

As Dave said, soldatovi pretty much matches glanis aka wels in size, a gargantuan fish, while the meridionalis aka chinese wels is a FAR more manageable fish and has been offered more widely in the US ever since the ban of the glanis / wels, including by the PredatoryFins.

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

Here is a picture I just took for me to come back to in reference as she grows. I would love to make my own species profile on this fish.

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

BOOM!!! Baby wels taking NLS pellets 4 hours after arrival!

Making RD. proud!

 

[Backfromthedead]

BOOM!!! Baby wels taking NLS pellets 4 hours after arrival!

Making RD. proud!

I know how you feel. Its odd how happy I get when I see a new fish happily eat what I'm serving.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Is this the soldatovi??

At the face value, Wes appears to offer "gold", which I'd assume is a light-colored morph, while this fish looks normal colored. Is it from this list? https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-stock-list-1st-time-in-the-usa-stuff.734943/

Mighty expensive too at $450 but of course worth it, if true soldatovi.

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

Is this the soldatovi??

At the face value, Wes appears to offer "gold", which I'd assume is a light-colored morph, while this fish looks normal colored. Is it from this list? https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-stock-list-1st-time-in-the-usa-stuff.734943/

Mighty expensive too at $450 but of course worth it, if true soldatovi.

I ordered just from Predatory fins. This is just regular “wild type”. I believe is indeed soldatovi not meridionalis. I will explain my thinking tomorrow. I’ve got a killer headache at the moment so I’ll put together my information in the morning.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Agree that this is not meridionalis of the two types but could not be certain yet that it is not asotus, as I know the other possibility is not possible in USA.

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

To quote Wes from 2013, "soldatovi is heavily mottled... and has a slightly wider face," while meridionalis is more "bland" mostly solid brown and grey with sometimes faint patterning. Soldatovi I've noticed has a much more dramatic under bite than other species especially meridionalis. The head is larger in my comparisons for soldatovi. Let me know what you think! I'd love to formulate an accurate and reliable guideline for distinguishing the Silurus species. Maybe when i gather enough information i can start a dedicated thread. btw fatboy8 looking at your pictures i think you have meridionalis while i have the other. If you could photo dump some updated pictures to me or to this thread id love to compare.

Mini update on the sheatfish. I had a colony of show guppies living in this tank for months with all my catfish. In one night the Chinese wels destroyed the population down to a 1 female guppy.

 

[KATALEKEEPER]

Hardly anything. I don’t plan to make a purchase with him any time soon and I know he’s busy so i don’t want to waste his time.

hold up I follow u on instagram already lol. Thats kinda funny. Im the kid who lives In NYC who cant get a bigger tank