Synodontis questions

[skinnyfish]

The other day I brought home a really nice looking catfish that had been traded in at my local Petvalu. It is definitely some kind of synodontis, but the store knew nothing about it or it's history. He appeared to be in excellent health and condition so I brought him home and put him in the 55G with my shoal of Buenos Aires tetras.
So far hes shy and hides a lot so I haven't been able to get a decent picture yet. He's about 3" long, medium brown with darker small spots on the front half blending into a more marbled pattern towards the tail. Fairly transparent dorsal and tail fins with dark markings almost forming stripes. When he comes out of hiding he swims upright.
From pictures I've been able to find on Google The closest looking species I've been able to find is s.eupterus. The only difference is that mine does not have the ray extensions on the dorsal fin.
My question do immature s.eupterus have these extensions? Or do they grow as the fish matures? Knowing would go a long way to helping me id this fish.

 

[Tifftastic]

There are some good pictures of juvenile patterns on planet catfish. It does look like the fin extensions don't develop until later.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=121

 

[skinnyfish]

Thanks for your response. The biggest problem I'm having getting an id for this fish is that I have no idea how old this fish is. Looking at planet catfish the first thing I noticed was that even within a species there's a wide range of colors and patterns that appear to change with age. Body types are similar, but mine is a much darker background color, which seems to mean nothing. Still trying to get a clear photo.

 

[Tifftastic]

With many species of animals its going to be very hard to get a clear ID with color alone, color varies so much between individuals and then even based on age and size like you mentioned as well as with stress, diet and other factors as well. Plus, there's always the chance you could have a hybrid on your hands.

 

[skinnyfish]

Finally got a picture, not a good one, I had to turn lights off and wait for him to come out. He didn't like the flash. The only reason I want to know what species is because I want to keep him with aggressive cichlids and I've heard the larger synos can do this. If he's a smaller peaceful syno I dont want him to get hurt.

 

[skinnyfish]

 

[evil wizard]

I can't see the photo for some reason.

 

[tanker]

cannot see photo either.

 

[skinnyfish]

Well I'm 90% sure its a young s. eupterus I've got. I guess time will tell. In the meantime he's doing fine. In other news one of my Red Spotted gold severum (in a different tank) is dancing for the other one.