agoh

No pics unfortunately until i can get my hands on a digital camera...but hes definitly looks exactly like your one, got a pair of synodontis decorus's as well...they're alot shyer than the network syno and have an unusual pair of barbels from the articles I've seen on the net it seems that network syno and featherfin are not all that different, just different body pattern...the network looks to be developing a nice tall dorsal already.

pretty active and always begs for food when I pop around, it looks exactly like your one, its about 8 cm long (a juvenile) , I'm assuming yours is too?..it will be interesting to see how its patterning changes as it gets older..perhaps this will reveal whether it is truely a aterrimus???(young featherfins have stripey designs which dissolve into spots at it grows older, so an aterimmus maintains its stripes?)......seeing the mature looking specimens on the internet have impressive reticulations.

Thanks catbrat, and your website proved most useful in identifying another syno I own! I recently purchased what I can now call a 'Network Catfish' that was mislabeled as a featherfin for $33 at the LFS...no wonder why my featherfin wasn't spotted, I thought I had some unique type of featherfin!

I was just wondering, how much would I expect to pay for a 'Synodontis decorus' at the Local Fish store???

just another note guys....probably reinventing the wheel saying this but if any of you are having trouble feeding your butterflies like I did before....it pays to feed any food with 'very' dim lighting as opposed to partially dim or room lighting...I tried feeding mine in very dark lighting and it seems to be more responsive to the food in the tank (obviously duh coz they're nocturnal - but its cool to learn and share by experience anyway)

hmm..I actually thought pleco...I'm not worthy

whoooaaaa thanks guys yep its pretty nice and fat now...its doing well since I bought some bloodworms yesterday....cool thing about bloodworms is you can put a few in at a time and they don't sink, they just float around for ages, get a swab and submerge them at once and they sink to the bottom.....food for surface feeders / food for ground beasties. Why doesn't somebody invent and ingenious insect catching tank?????

yeah so it seems...but its posted over the web that they can readily accept prepared foods...I even asked the LFS person and they said they will take anything that floats........I am assuming I have a matured butterfly thats been brought up on live foods or a wild caught specimen, which adds to the challenge...I'll see what I can do / otherwise I only hope blood worms work....perhaps have some hanging off some leaves into the water as I have alot of overhanging plants

I have just purchased a African Butterfly fish (already about 6cm) that refuses to eat anything but live foods...atleast I've tried flakes,pellets, tubifex and frozen brine shrimp for 3 days.....HOWEVER....I found two spiders in my room, threw them into the tank and the fish broke out of its hypnosis and crunch crunch, a spider was destroyed....the other one sought refuge on a leave growing out of the water, but the fish literally did the dolphin dive and all that was left was a spider leg on the leave... ANYWAY - anyway of training the fish to eat prepared simple foods...

I like to pick each one up and crush them between my fingers - feels great

and to conclude this intense debate...when in doubt, get rid of it

whats the fish?

btw: how do you guys earn those stars

In reply to Plecs: Critters Megacentre, 65 Thackery St, Napier, check out the commercial / exchange forum. Thanks guys

heres some a picture of a male and female steel blue

If I were to drive to that new mega fish centre in Napier (I'm from Wellington) and buy fish..anyone know about any great ways to transport the fish back without subjecting it to stress???

a fyi funny: My parents brought this strange device from china....its a plastic tennis raquet crossed with wires and battery operated...when a fly makes contact it explodes....hours of fun for the children and no chemicals

I have female apistogramma 'blue steel'....I've kept her in a seperate tank from the male because shes quite smallish and not very plump, I've fed her a variety of live foods etc, but when do I know shes ready to meet the male?.....does her stomach have to be fairly plumpish???

poor snails

wow I never knew fish could be dyed...sounds very cruel

yep, thats pretty intense spending for a fish, I like the look of them but hearing about the silver smacking its head on the glass top and doing damage sounds all too painful to hear..... I guess it would take a swimming pool to keep one of those beauties happy and natural, that pretty much eliminates my desire to buy one.... in any case they're wonderful to look at thats for sure, thanks for your comments guys

whooooaaa....thats quite expensive alright....damn it! yeah I do know that silver arowanas are going at $144 at my LFS but I think the exotic colourful breeds have to be specially ordered from overseas...hence the big bucks on them (i.e the $3000 you saw)....its a pity, as some of them would be fantastic fish to keep here...

Popular Arowanas mean big bucks, which is reason why I suppose you don't see many expensive arowanas like 'asian arowanas' in New zealand petstores. If I were to specially order one from the petstore, how much would it cost??....I assume there are no places in New Zealand where arowanas are bred?...

Thtas fantastic Rob, I definitly have the steel blue then, and I'm supposing I have the steel blue female, I will throw the two togethor at some stage and see what happens! That piece of knowledge was something I've been searching throughout the world wide web, and all I had to do is ask the experts here in a New Zealand chat forum...cheers

I was wondering if any fish experts out there know whether female borelli cichlids can come in colorful forms, I supposedly have one which I purchased from the petstore and the owners said it was a female, but it has colourful worm like patterns on its head like the male and really does look like the male except it appears smaller. When I put the male and "female" togethor in the tank, the male's fins flexed out and he whip tailed the 'female', after several exhanges the 'female' retreated as the male chased and chased the "female" around the tank, at this point I seperated the 'female' into a smaller tank. Does this behaviour confirm that she is a female, or is it territorial male Vs male behaviour????...... I would be immensly if somebody can answer this boggling question...