Vieja Melanurus and Vieja Bifasciatus

[Jason_S]

synspilum and melanarus can look incredibly similar to one another. the main difference i've noticed from what i've been told are each is that synspilum usually has more blues and yellows in the body color as well as the yellow/orange body and red head. this fish is mostly an orange body with red head which is what i've seen more in regards to melanarus.

personally I'd go by what I was told it was by whoever I got it from so long as they were a reputable source.

 

[Jason_S]

for reference. this is a fish I got from Jeff Rapps as a melanarus. Clearly OP's is older and larger than mine but otherwise I'd say they're pretty similar. I'll see if I can find some pics of the synspilum I used to have that also came from Rapps.

 

[danncon]

Just some updates on my Melanurus and Bifasciatus. Hope you guys like.

Cool fish you have nice big bifa. Is that a male ?

 

[Ghage]

Thanks again for the cool comments guys!!!! Turns out the Bifa is a female, I just discovered that she laid eggs last night and the male with her is the Melanurus.

 

[Ruck Fules]

Thanks again for the cool comments guys!!!! Turns out the Bifa is a female, I just discovered that she laid eggs last night and the male with her is the Melanurus.

Both look great. How's the small bifa I gave you?

 

[blackghostuk]

Synspilus and melanurus are so similar that they might even be the same species, and both are very variable, but melanurus tend to be orange at the back end whereas synspilus tend to be yellow. Melanurus also tend to have black on their backs below the dorsal fin, and more black at the bottom.

To me this fish is definitely melanurus.

 

[newworld]

i agree that this fish is prob synspilum, i've kept/bred syspilum many times i collected/spawned melanurus from peten, true they might be the same species, maybe variants but "melanurus" is an orange/black fish which is more elongated, i never saw a wide bodied melanurus......

 

[Ghage]

I purchased the Melanurus from Rapps almost a year ago, he's been pretty good to me regarding orders so I think I'll trust him. I do appreciate the comments and the views, thanks guys. Gani, I still have the little Bifa and he's doing fine, he's actually growing at a decent rate, thanks again Broheim!!!!

 

[buddha1200]

the first time i looked at the pics it was on my phone,now that i looked at them on my computer its hard to say,i woould love to have that fish regardless.Great fish you are doing a good job with them.

 

[Jason_S]

Synspilus and melanurus are so similar that they might even be the same species, and both are very variable, but melanurus tend to be orange at the back end whereas synspilus tend to be yellow. Melanurus also tend to have black on their backs below the dorsal fin, and more black at the bottom.

To me this fish is definitely melanurus.

I totally agree. the only differences really that I've noticed is that melanarus is more likely to have an orange base body color whereas synsp are more likely to have more of a yellow base body color but even that is variable as I've seen syns that are more orangish. Also syns are more likely to have other colors such as blues and greens on them whereas melanarus typically, from what I've seen, are orange and black with possibly a red head.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see them wind up as variants of the same species though some day.