V.Synspilum VS V.melanurus

[Spakase]

The pics are all of Synspilum. The confusion came about because the pics were labeled wrongly - this one is for sure!
Here is a pic of a Melarunus, compare the colours of the body, eyes, and fins with the pics you posted,you can see a great deal of difference. Absent are the rainbow colours, the blue eyes, and in place orangey red spread throughout the body of the Melarunus.

 

[synspila81]

The ones you posted all look like Syns to me. Did you check the link I gave you?You can see the melanurus has a blacker under body and tail fin.The coloration is more one color extending the length of the body where as Syns are more of a rainbow.

Links
melanurus

synspilum

yes.. i've check the link.. but some other website do post a melanurus that look the same with synspilum..

for now .. i just stick with blacker tail and underbody.. with more extending coloration ..no rainbow mix coloration on melanurus..

 

[synspila81]

The pics are all of Synspilum. The confusion came about because the pics were labeled wrongly - this one is for sure!
Here is a pic of a Melarunus, compare the colours of the body, eyes, and fins with the pics you posted,you can see a great deal of difference. Absent are the rainbow colours, the blue eyes, and in place orangey red spread throughout the body of the Melarunus.

yeah.. this one looks differ.. but still a good looking fish

is it a melanurus not so popular to the hobbyst..??
or because its hard to find any at lfs..??

 

[greenterra]

is it a melanurus not so popular to the hobbyst..??
or because its hard to find any at lfs..??

I suppose that depends on where you live. The last batch I saw for sale here was about 14mths ago and they were asking $140Au each for them as juvies.To much money for what they are for me when you can buy Syns here for $10 as they are very popular.

 

[Spakase]

Those are crazy prices!
For us in Singapore, we can get Melarunus at the Synspilum price but it's not a popular fish because it pales in comparison with the latter. Furthermore, if one wants variety, the other Viejas or Paratheraps can offer the colours and spotting range such as Bifasciatus, Zonatus. I'm not saying it's a bad fish, but not many are interested in this fish here. There are collectors who want more variety but these are few and far in between. I've kept them before but I prefer the others and has recently put in an order for Jeff Rapp fishes, some of which are the Bifasciatus (Chacamax), Hartwegi, and other parachromis. I remember when the Melaranus was imported from Jeff some years back, hardly any were ever sold in Singapore, I picked up two fishes but I didn't really like the colour actually after keeping them for a while, so gave them up to someone else.

 

[synspila81]

I suppose that depends on where you live. The last batch I saw for sale here was about 14mths ago and they were asking $140Au each for them as juvies.To much money for what they are for me when you can buy Syns here for $10 as they are very popular.

thats very high price ..

why is that so..? is it becoz melanurus is a rare fish?? or becoz melanurus is some kinda hard to breed?

how about the demand of this fish..??

 

[synspila81]

Those are crazy prices!
For us in Singapore, we can get Melarunus at the Synspilum price but it's not a popular fish because it pales in comparison with the latter. Furthermore, if one wants variety, the other Viejas or Paratheraps can offer the colours and spotting range such as Bifasciatus, Zonatus. I'm not saying it's a bad fish, but not many are interested in this fish here. There are collectors who want more variety but these are few and far in between. I've kept them before but I prefer the others and has recently put in an order for Jeff Rapp fishes, some of which are the Bifasciatus (Chacamax), Hartwegi, and other parachromis. I remember when the Melaranus was imported from Jeff some years back, hardly any were ever sold in Singapore, I picked up two fishes but I didn't really like the colour actually after keeping them for a while, so gave them up to someone else.

is it melanurus and synspilum have a good market in singapore??
if so.. i should try to breed those cichlids.. hehe

 

[Spakase]

I can't say for others, but IMO, in Singapore, CA hobbyists are likely to favour Synspilum over Melanurus. Nevertheless there are collectors who would buy both although I think the majority will go for Synspilum because of the colour. Many would not even have heard of the Melanurus and may write it off as a hybrid.

Having said that, the market for CAs in Singapore is very small and is limited to a small group of collectors. Probably it is because Singapore is land scarce and therefore there is a limit to the number of large tanks that can be kept in the small government built flats that 70 to 80% of the population live in.

 

[terrors r us]

check out the *********** forum and type in melanurus in the search category....
some good info. and pic's....

 

[synspila81]

Just wnted to share this with synspilum lover.. i found this on the others web.. synspilum is superb.. beautiful fish indeed..