Guess what this is...the answer might suprise you

[ichthusfish]

They look like thesee
http://youtu.be/e4wMgsupGg0







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Thank u for your reply. I think that your point on them being hybrids may be true but still i have my fingers crossed
Although i have to disagree with the "body without stripes" segment. The reference from fishbase you stated never mentioned whether the no stripes part implied to both adults and juvies or just adults. What im thinking here is that the stripes might disapear as the fish ages.
If zeb hogan truly worked with these fish for more than 10years im guessing that he knows what hes doing or filming and the docu also mentioned that the fish was taken directly from a MGC breeding farm so who knows? Maybe the stripes will disapear as they grow older...
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[thebiggerthebetter]

Thanks Joseph and Bob for new info. I think we can trust Zeb, no question. Bob, what appears as a vague darker stripe below the lateral line on screen shots may be simply the play of light, camera lighting, reflection etc. The fish with Zeb is awfully close to stripe-less.

Joseph, you are correct that FishBase does not state explicitly the ages when it mentions "body without stripes". We may or may not have to guess. In scientific literature, one must cite the conditions and qualifications when making a statement. An unconditional, unqualified statement is just that, meaning it applies to all, in this case, ages and sizes of MGC. One would think. Albeit, yes, a confirmation would be nice. BTW, this is taken out of a reference article that one can find and read and become more certain of the identification process and what "body without stripes" means. Could you do so, please?

It's troubling that even Wes does not appear versed in MGC ID. Oh well. He cannot do it all.

 

[ichthusfish]

Woah..long time. The fish in the pic i posted is clearly stressed out due to it being pulled out of the water and put into a small glass case. My fish were also stripeless when they were being transported to a new tank. The stress made them pale.
Aslo the fish, even when young takes in a huge amount of oxegen and sometimes faints when he absorbs all the oxegen around him.
My fish were white when they went through this. Sorry for replying so late.

 

[Chub_by]

This thread got better with every page, great discussion. I, with my extremely limited knowledge about Catfish, agree with Wes. These fish are not well researched at all, and there are probably several species and subspecies that have not been distinguished yet, let alone hybrids.
Ichthusfish, how about new pics?

 

[ichthusfish]

Ill try to get some once i get home

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

If the Singapore River Safari got their ID right, one can see Mekong Giant Catfish MGC in TL's video, 4:00 min to 5:40 min:

 

[ichthusfish]

i wish this fish could have stayed with me. it got too big for my tank at an alarming rate so i had to send it off to an aquarium. i dont know if the guy who took it was an expert or not, but he said that he's seen quite a few farm bred imported MGCs before and my fish apparently looked exactly like them. i will request for a pic if i can contact him again.

 

[ichthusfish]

A very overdue update. The other specimen is still in an aquarium in Seoul, while this one was moved to another public aquarium. The pic was taken in the moving process.

 

[ichthusfish]

I think this solidifies the argument that it was in fact a MGC.
However, I recently considered thoughts of it being a hybrid. I have seen some pictures of ID X MGC but the specimen in the pic above does seem to resemble a MGC.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Closely related thread for future cross-referencing: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...kong-giant-catfish.700708/page-3#post-7922831