Synodontis lucipinnis • Mochokidae • Cat-eLog

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Synodontis lucipinnis** Wright & Page, 2006
Common Name(s)	Dwarf Lake Syno, Dwarf Lake Synodontis, False Cuckoo Catfish
Type Locality	Musende Rocks, Zambia, Lake Tanganyika, 8°46'00''S, 31°07'00''E.
Pronunciation	sin oh don tiss - loo see pin niss
Etymology	Synodontis: From the Greek syn, meaning together, and odontos, meaning tooth; in reference to the closely-spaced lower jaw teeth. From the Latin luci, meaning bright or clear, and pinnis, meaning fin. In reference to the light patches found at the base of the black triangles on the rayed fins.
Species Information
Size	100mm (3.9") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	All species in the genus Synodontis have a hardened head cap that has attached a process (humeral process) which is situated behind the gill opening and pointed towards the posterior. The dorsal fin and pectoral fins have a hardened first ray which is serrated. Caudal fin is always forked. There is one pair of maxillary barbels, sometimes having membranes and occasionally branched. The two pairs of mandibular barbels are often branched and can have nodes attached. The cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw are short. S-shaped and movable in the lower jaw. These fish produce audible sounds when disturbed rubbing the base of the pectoral spine against the pectoral girdle. Similar to other described catfish from the lake. The cuckoo catfish, Synodontis multipunctatus, is the most common import and you, occasionally, may also encounter S. polli, S. dhonti and S.tanganyicae. All sport the distinctive white barbels and are spotted as juveniles to some degree or other and thus another form of quick identification prevails - S. petricola and S. lucipinnis are the only species with a solid white leading dorsal and pectoral fin ray and the spotted body pattern. This fish however appears to be growing to a smaller mature size than S. petricola and is less heavily spotted in comparison. S. petricola can be differentiated from S. lucipinnis by the former having smaller spots on the head than the body spots.
Sexing	See male and female image above.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Musende Rocks area, Zambia, Lake Tanganyika. African Waters, Western Rift Valley Lakes, Tanganyika (click on these areas to find other species found there) (Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)
pH	6.5 - 8.5
Temperature	22.0-24.0°C or 71.6-75.2°F (Show others within this range)
Other Parameters	Surprisingly this species reproduces in less than neutral pH water condition much removed from those found in it's native habitat.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	A very easy fish to feed. All prepared foods are accepted and the fish will eat heavily thus making conditioning a relatively simple task.
Furniture	Bogwood is utilised although rock clusters appear more preferable. Seems to enjoy long, tall, flowing plants such as giant Vallisneria.
Compatibility	A social species tolerant of their own kind and unimposing.
Suggested Tankmates	Given that the fish doesn't require the water conditions normally associated with rift valley cichlids this renders virtually any aquarium fish of a suitable size and disposition a good tankmate. It's a community catfish for the masses!
Breeding	Reports are mixed as to whether this species is or is not a cuckoo spawner, possibly due to incorrect determination of species that have spawned. Videoed spawnings indicate that it is not a parasitic ''cuckoo'' spawner but rather an egg scatterer. See Catfish of the month article.
Further Information
Registered Keepers	(1) Birger (k: 9), (2) synoguy (k: 3), (3) zenyfish (k: 7), (4) Richard B (k: 8), (5) caudalis (k: 2), (6) Oliver D. (k: 6), (7) Noesis (k: 5), (8) GreenSynoMan, (9) Floody (k: 4), (10) kntrygrl4lyfe, (11) garibaldi, (12) teknikAL, (13) einstein-a-go-go, (14) Barbie, (15) kvnbyl (k: 20), who also notes: "sold some, got to pay the electric bill somehow!", (16) alga (k: 6), (17) Landlubber, (18) jollysue (k: 7), (19) dwfish, (20) unblinded (k: 11), (21) FTLOSM, (22) goodmike (k: 25), (23) nascar2 (k: 9), (24) straitjacketstar (k: 3), (25) drgold (k: 13), (26) tomr (p: 3, k: 12), (27) Didgeridoo (k: 7), (28) Julie, (29) oxdeleon, (30) zappa0609, (31) cathje (k: 10), (32) d_frag, (33) worton[pl] (k: 5), (34) Moomoo, (35) Ak Viking (p: 2, k: 34), (36) DragonGT83, (37) Axlelene, (38) Phyllonemus, (39) andywoolloo (k: 12), (40) Azarak, (41) jha61, (42) oliv67, (43) Yann (k: 5), (44) Derzel, (45) drpleco (k: 5), (46) jippo (k: 4), (47) Humunuku (k: 7), (48) Bloodywertzie (k: 3), who also notes: "In 3 foot community tank.", (49) PeterUK (k: 3), (50) scleropages (k: 18), (51) gtuser (k: 4), who also notes: "Unure of sex mix, but have so far found 6 fry in tank - can't confirm if spawned via 'Cuckoo' or 'Egg scattering' method.", (52) zigster, (53) syno321, (54) smithrc, (55) wimmels, (56) I_Xeno (k: 5), (57) Syno Rey (k: 12), who also notes: "6 one inch babies in my 55 gal. with one and a half inch Elongatus Chewere fry", (58) shivamotiram, (59) DeepFriedIctalurus, (60) slayer5590, who also notes: "Lost 1 on 10/24/2012", (61) catfishhunter, (62) TheCichlidKid15, (63) fleahound (p: 2, k: 4), (64) rsyno (p: 2), (65) zipper, (66) Margie (k: 33), (67) tjudy, (68) richb, (69) shooter50014 (k: 6), (70) lasteeves (k: 20), who also notes: "We have three groups; one group of 10 adults and 10 juveniles split into two unequal groups. Interested in egg-collection/fry-rearing techniques.", (71) Ostafrika-Barsche, (72) redtigrinus, (73) eirisallen, (74) m1ke715m, (75) coachdavis73044 (k: 3), (76) Old MacDonald, (77) msjinkzd (k: 6), (78) igol66 (k: 8), who also notes: "SUPER CUTE!", (79) Marklar (k: 8), who also notes: "House in 450L Tanganyikan community tank with rock-dwelling and shell-dwelling cichlids and cyprichromis. Also housed in same tank are 6 S.multipunctatus. Water naturally hard and buffered to pH 8.2 Sharp-sand and raised slate tile substrate, sandstone rock formations Feeding as per cichlids (New Era red and green sinking pellets and Tanganyikan cichlid flake) and no doubt numerous cichlid fry.", (80) adoo, (81) Madtundra01, (82) 24tropheus (k: 7), who also notes: "Usualy in general Tang community. 72"x24"x24" Bed em in a 36"x12"x15" and kept and sold some young. Back in community now.", (83) craigc. Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.
Breeding Reports	None.
Articles	- CotM 2001 June
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Last Update	2013 Jan 31 09:25 (species record created: 2001 Apr 21 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Synodontis lucipinnis Wright & Page, 2006

Common Name(s)

Dwarf Lake Syno, Dwarf Lake Synodontis, False Cuckoo Catfish

Type Locality

Musende Rocks, Zambia, Lake Tanganyika, 8°46'00''S, 31°07'00''E.

Pronunciation

sin oh don tiss - loo see pin niss

Etymology

Synodontis: From the Greek syn, meaning together, and odontos, meaning tooth; in reference to the closely-spaced lower jaw teeth. From the Latin luci, meaning bright or clear, and pinnis, meaning fin. In reference to the light patches found at the base of the black triangles on the rayed fins.

Species Information

Size

100mm (3.9") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.

Identification

All species in the genus Synodontis have a hardened head cap that has attached a process (humeral process) which is situated behind the gill opening and pointed towards the posterior. The dorsal fin and pectoral fins have a hardened first ray which is serrated. Caudal fin is always forked. There is one pair of maxillary barbels, sometimes having membranes and occasionally branched. The two pairs of mandibular barbels are often branched and can have nodes attached. The cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw are short. S-shaped and movable in the lower jaw. These fish produce audible sounds when disturbed rubbing the base of the pectoral spine against the pectoral girdle.

Similar to other described catfish from the lake. The cuckoo catfish, Synodontis multipunctatus, is the most common import and you, occasionally, may also encounter S. polli, S. dhonti and S.tanganyicae. All sport the distinctive white barbels and are spotted as juveniles to some degree or other and thus another form of quick identification prevails - S. petricola and S. lucipinnis are the only species with a solid white leading dorsal and pectoral fin ray and the spotted body pattern. This fish however appears to be growing to a smaller mature size than S. petricola and is less heavily spotted in comparison. S. petricola can be differentiated from S. lucipinnis by the former having smaller spots on the head than the body spots.

Sexing

See male and female image above.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Musende Rocks area, Zambia, Lake Tanganyika.
African Waters, Western Rift Valley Lakes, Tanganyika (click on these areas to find other species found there)

(Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)

6.5 - 8.5

Temperature

22.0-24.0°C or 71.6-75.2°F (Show others within this range)

Other Parameters

Surprisingly this species reproduces in less than neutral pH water condition much removed from those found in it's native habitat.

Husbandry Information

Feeding

A very easy fish to feed. All prepared foods are accepted and the fish will eat heavily thus making conditioning a relatively simple task.

Furniture

Bogwood is utilised although rock clusters appear more preferable. Seems to enjoy long, tall, flowing plants such as giant Vallisneria.

Compatibility

A social species tolerant of their own kind and unimposing.

Suggested Tankmates

Given that the fish doesn't require the water conditions normally associated with rift valley cichlids this renders virtually any aquarium fish of a suitable size and disposition a good tankmate. It's a community catfish for the masses!

Breeding

Reports are mixed as to whether this species is or is not a cuckoo spawner, possibly due to incorrect determination of species that have spawned. Videoed spawnings indicate that it is not a parasitic ''cuckoo'' spawner but rather an egg scatterer. See Catfish of the month article.

Further Information

Registered Keepers

(1) Birger (k: 9), (2) synoguy (k: 3), (3) zenyfish (k: 7), (4) Richard B (k: 8), (5) caudalis (k: 2), (6) Oliver D. (k: 6), (7) Noesis (k: 5), (8) GreenSynoMan, (9) Floody (k: 4), (10) kntrygrl4lyfe, (11) garibaldi, (12) teknikAL, (13) einstein-a-go-go, (14) Barbie, (15) kvnbyl (k: 20), who also notes: "sold some, got to pay the electric bill somehow!", (16) alga (k: 6), (17) Landlubber, (18) jollysue (k: 7), (19) dwfish, (20) unblinded (k: 11), (21) FTLOSM, (22) goodmike (k: 25), (23) nascar2 (k: 9), (24) straitjacketstar (k: 3), (25) drgold (k: 13), (26) tomr (p: 3, k: 12), (27) Didgeridoo (k: 7), (28) Julie, (29) oxdeleon, (30) zappa0609, (31) cathje (k: 10), (32) d_frag, (33) worton[pl] (k: 5), (34) Moomoo, (35) Ak Viking (p: 2, k: 34), (36) DragonGT83, (37) Axlelene, (38) Phyllonemus, (39) andywoolloo (k: 12), (40) Azarak, (41) jha61, (42) oliv67, (43) Yann (k: 5), (44) Derzel, (45) drpleco (k: 5), (46) jippo (k: 4), (47) Humunuku (k: 7), (48) Bloodywertzie (k: 3), who also notes: "In 3 foot community tank.", (49) PeterUK (k: 3), (50) scleropages (k: 18), (51) gtuser (k: 4), who also notes: "Unure of sex mix, but have so far found 6 fry in tank - can't confirm if spawned via 'Cuckoo' or 'Egg scattering' method.", (52) zigster, (53) syno321, (54) smithrc, (55) wimmels, (56) I_Xeno (k: 5), (57) Syno Rey (k: 12), who also notes: "6 one inch babies in my 55 gal. with one and a half inch Elongatus Chewere fry", (58) shivamotiram, (59) DeepFriedIctalurus, (60) slayer5590, who also notes: "Lost 1 on 10/24/2012", (61) catfishhunter, (62) TheCichlidKid15, (63) fleahound (p: 2, k: 4), (64) rsyno (p: 2), (65) zipper, (66) Margie (k: 33), (67) tjudy, (68) richb, (69) shooter50014 (k: 6), (70) lasteeves (k: 20), who also notes: "We have three groups; one group of 10 adults and 10 juveniles split into two unequal groups. Interested in egg-collection/fry-rearing techniques.", (71) Ostafrika-Barsche, (72) redtigrinus, (73) eirisallen, (74) m1ke715m, (75) coachdavis73044 (k: 3), (76) Old MacDonald, (77) msjinkzd (k: 6), (78) igol66 (k: 8), who also notes: "SUPER CUTE!", (79) Marklar (k: 8), who also notes: "House in 450L Tanganyikan community tank with rock-dwelling and shell-dwelling cichlids and cyprichromis. Also housed in same tank are 6 S.multipunctatus. Water naturally hard and buffered to pH 8.2 Sharp-sand and raised slate tile substrate, sandstone rock formations Feeding as per cichlids (New Era red and green sinking pellets and Tanganyikan cichlid flake) and no doubt numerous cichlid fry.", (80) adoo, (81) Madtundra01, (82) 24tropheus (k: 7), who also notes: "Usualy in general Tang community. 72"x24"x24" Bed em in a 36"x12"x15" and kept and sold some young. Back in community now.", (83) craigc.

Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.

Breeding Reports

None.

Articles