Synodontis nigriventris • Mochokidae • Cat-eLog

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Synodontis nigriventris** David, 1936
Common Name(s)	Upside Down Catfish
Type Locality	Buta, Zaire.
Pronunciation	sin oh don tiss - nig ree VENT riss
Etymology	Synodontis: From the Greek syn, meaning together, and odontos, meaning tooth; in reference to the closely-spaced lower jaw teeth. nigri mean dark, ventris meaning belly. Alluding to the reversed counter-shading.
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. A common import; although occasionally confused with the similar S. contracta which has a larger head and much larger eyes.
Sexing	Female is larger, plumper and with old age more pale.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Africa: Democratic Republic of the Congo. African Waters, Congo, Middle Congo (click on these areas to find other species found there) (Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)
pH	6.0 - 7.5
Temperature	22.0-28.0°C or 71.6-82.4°F (Show others within this range)
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Will eat the vast majority of prepared and live foods.
Furniture	Over hanging structures or tunnels - either rock, wood or large broad leafed plants. These are all to provide shady places of rest while upside down. Choice of substrate is unimportant.
Compatibility	An ideal catfish for the smaller aquarium. Peaceful with both its conspecifics and other residents. To get the best out of this fish it should be kept in small shoals as you would keep Corydoras.
Suggested Tankmates	Any small to medium sized community fish.
Breeding	In the North American Catfish Society Vol. 1 No. 1 Jan. 1996 there appeared an article entitled ''Luck In A Bucket'' by Jay and Mary Ann Angros. The authors keep some of their fishes outdoors in the summer. The catfish were placed in a five gallon bucket full of clay pots and PVC pipe from their regular tank. One author, Jay, took the bucket outside and promptly forgot about it for two days! When the bucket of fish was remembered and checked, the authors found fifty eggs in one piece of PVC. The fish were then brought back inside and placed in a tank that was completely full of crockery and PVC pipes. Sometime later this tank was broken down for cleaning and seven S. nigriventris fry were found. The spawning tank had pH 6.8 and the temperature fluctuated between 78F and 82F. The tank had about an inch of gravel over an under gravel filter. Tankmates included skunk Botia and other Synodontis spp. The fish were fed mainly frozen brine shrimp, bloodworm, and ProGreen (a mixture of green, clams, and shrimp). Based on the account above, it would seem that any attempt at spawning the USD Catfish requires, at a minimum, the following: A well-rounded high quality diet Drastic temperature drops to initiate spawning Soft acidic water Suitable spawning sites
Further Information
References	Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr.v. 28 (no. 3) - pp417
Registered Keepers	(1) TP (k: 15), (2) Birger (k: 15), who also notes: "Have added a mature "Zebra Kutu" to my group.", (3) synoguy (k: 6), (4) snowball (k: 6), (5) walkinjay81, (6) caudalis (k: 6), (7) Oliver D. (k: 10), (8) CptnSpaulding, (9) amergim, (10) Travis_Conklin, (11) VirgoWolf, (12) Jackp1ne, (13) Marsdinho, (14) Igowoof, (15) Slimlim, (16) teknikAL (k: 2), (17) k1ttyme0w (k: 3), (18) amcmaster, (19) Gopherboy (k: 3), (20) titch2007 (k: 10), who also notes: "always wanted to keep but never had an appropriate set up for them to be happy!!! yet again bought five, hoping to add another 2-3 and trying to encourage them to spawn also!!! they are very secretive fish, but if mixed with suitable tankmate and fed", (21) GoGoCactus, (22) Dave Rinaldo, (23) unblinded, (24) mouseninja, (25) obik101, (26) lizimal, who also notes: "Dec 08 - 2 others mysteriously vanished, only original UD left. New UD Cats - 03/14/08 - $5 each name: Claude. Zebra kutu colour form. ", (27) Chrysichthys (k: 5), (28) Lightbringer (k: 3), (29) pirate monkey (k: 5), who also notes: "What funny little creatures! they make me smile just thinking about them. I haven't managed to get them to eat from surface yet.", (30) jippo (k: 12), (31) didjman89, (32) LUISGOREY, (33) theonetruepath (k: 8), who also notes: "Three are 'Zebra' form", (34) griffl (p: 4, k: 4), who also notes: "Added second which play together everyday.", "Really cool fish. Had to replace the one I lost.", (35) Plunt, (36) synodontisjack, (37) San (p: 2), (38) loachy_406 (k: 3), who also notes: "i have two dark ones and a 'grey' one. They are now becoming a lot braver and search for food with everyone else when the light is off. They tend to swim 'upside up' when they feed.", (39) Upsidedowner (p: 2), (40) joe.juice13 (k: 3), (41) Mariea, (42) norfolkgarden (p: 2, k: 7), who also notes: "Ecellent personality! Constantly playing in the filter outflow or exploring the tank. Ecellent personality! Constantly playing in the filter outflow or exploring the tank.", (43) nmonks (k: 3), (44) iam1ru12 (k: 5), (45) AimsPink, (46) tjcher, (47) doesdavid (k: 6), (48) Dongjin-Kang, (49) seds (k: 4), (50) smegforbrains, (51) ali12345 (k: 4), (52) unkaface, (53) kiwiplymouth, (54) reneb, (55) fischkringli, (56) synofreak, (57) andy75, (58) Nick44 (k: 3), (59) Mike C (k: 2), (60) ariefputranto, (61) judeblackburn (k: 3), (62) corymkl, (63) badtaz30, (64) Caracal (k: 9), (65) Komolaj1 (k: 3), (66) astinus, (67) naturalart (k: 3), who also notes: "Partly bought them to relax my S.alberti and it did the trick. Now on the search for a female.", (68) elle_1313, (69) ayrtoninst, (70) LowClassCC, (71) pickles4601, (72) Viktor Jarikov, who also notes: "very elusive, fast, very good unfussy eater; true to his name; has not grown much unlike others", (73) Wallace (k: 3), (74) stuart264, (75) oli (k: 4), (76) Bijn (k: 5), (77) d3n2 (k: 2), (78) chubbikins (k: 5), (79) alpha (k: 6), (80) tijani, (81) NC24, (82) fishmanbill (k: 2), (83) Mezel (k: 4), who also notes: "I got 4 of these, read about them for a long time. Just love watching them swim. They get along very well with my feather fins.", (84) N0body Of The Goat (k: 11), (85) rommer (k: 7), (86) ad8, (87) GoldenFeather, (88) Buddiechrist, (89) JamesStuddart (k: 4), (90) arapaimag (k: 8), (91) Draco Spectrum, (92) Starfish42, who also notes: "My oldest fish! Originally had 2, but the other died years ago. Just how long can these live?", (93) TheInfamous, who also notes: "Usually stays around the filter away from the other fish, but very cool.", (94) ilikefishme, (95) GreenSynoMan (k: 3), (96) Katherine, (97) clydeboy (k: 2), (98) Catfish freak, (99) Bruton, (100) scalvinfish (k: 5), (101) transporter42 (p: 2), (102) jimlaroche83 (k: 3), (103) lasteeves (k: 5), (104) cochito, (105) mamoo (k: 4), (106) wirikwiri, (107) guardianfyre, (108) lazymonsterboy (k: 2), (109) merit, (110) mg7454 (k: 5), who also notes: "I was so happy to find these guys! I love watching them play all day around their favorite pieces of Mopani driftwood (which are standing in the corners of the aquarium). They are somewhat active all day; and at night, when I turn on the lunar LEDs in white & actinic blue, they zip around and play all over the aquarium. They are so much fun! The water parameters are 79 degrees, soft and pH is 6.8. I give them Hikari frozen blood worms every day, and they have some of the Aqueon tropical fish flakes I drop in for all of the fish in the aquarium. They also love Hikari algae wafers, they steal them from my Pleco when he's not right on the wafer!", (111) Sam (k: 6), (112) miguel mitchel (k: 2), (113) dbl_dbl, (114) FerocactusLatispinus (k: 4), who also notes: "Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp. Moe defends any area near him vehemently and is the most reclusive and skittish. With their little beards, they're all probably the cutest of the cats in the tank!", (115) linuxrulesusa (k: 3), (116) Catfishfingers, (117) rizla75, (118) p44236. 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 1999 April
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Last Update	2009 Jan 08 12:47 (species record created: 2001 Apr 21 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Synodontis nigriventris David, 1936

Common Name(s)

Upside Down Catfish

Type Locality

Buta, Zaire.

Pronunciation

sin oh don tiss - nig ree VENT riss

Etymology

Synodontis: From the Greek syn, meaning together, and odontos, meaning tooth; in reference to the closely-spaced lower jaw teeth. nigri mean dark, ventris meaning belly. Alluding to the reversed counter-shading.

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.

A common import; although occasionally confused with the similar S. contracta which has a larger head and much larger eyes.

Sexing

Female is larger, plumper and with old age more pale.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Africa: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
African Waters, Congo, Middle Congo (click on these areas to find other species found there)

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

6.0 - 7.5

Temperature

22.0-28.0°C or 71.6-82.4°F (Show others within this range)

Husbandry Information

Feeding

Will eat the vast majority of prepared and live foods.

Furniture

Over hanging structures or tunnels - either rock, wood or large broad leafed plants. These are all to provide shady places of rest while upside down. Choice of substrate is unimportant.

Compatibility

An ideal catfish for the smaller aquarium. Peaceful with both its conspecifics and other residents. To get the best out of this fish it should be kept in small shoals as you would keep Corydoras.

Suggested Tankmates

Any small to medium sized community fish.

Breeding

In the North American Catfish Society Vol. 1 No. 1 Jan. 1996 there appeared an article entitled ''Luck In A Bucket'' by Jay and Mary Ann Angros. The authors keep some of their fishes outdoors in the summer. The catfish were placed in a five gallon bucket full of clay pots and PVC pipe from their regular tank. One author, Jay, took the bucket outside and promptly forgot about it for two days! When the bucket of fish was remembered and checked, the authors found fifty eggs in one piece of PVC. The fish were then brought back inside and placed in a tank that was completely full of crockery and PVC pipes. Sometime later this tank was broken down for cleaning and seven S. nigriventris fry were found. The spawning tank had pH 6.8 and the temperature fluctuated between 78F and 82F. The tank had about an inch of gravel over an under gravel filter. Tankmates included skunk Botia and other Synodontis spp. The fish were fed mainly frozen brine shrimp, bloodworm, and ProGreen (a mixture of green, clams, and shrimp). Based on the account above, it would seem that any attempt at spawning the USD Catfish requires, at a minimum, the following:

A well-rounded high quality diet
Drastic temperature drops to initiate spawning
Soft acidic water
Suitable spawning sites

Further Information

References

Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr.v. 28 (no. 3) - pp417

Registered Keepers

(1) TP (k: 15), (2) Birger (k: 15), who also notes: "Have added a mature "Zebra Kutu" to my group.", (3) synoguy (k: 6), (4) snowball (k: 6), (5) walkinjay81, (6) caudalis (k: 6), (7) Oliver D. (k: 10), (8) CptnSpaulding, (9) amergim, (10) Travis_Conklin, (11) VirgoWolf, (12) Jackp1ne, (13) Marsdinho, (14) Igowoof, (15) Slimlim, (16) teknikAL (k: 2), (17) k1ttyme0w (k: 3), (18) amcmaster, (19) Gopherboy (k: 3), (20) titch2007 (k: 10), who also notes: "always wanted to keep but never had an appropriate set up for them to be happy!!! yet again bought five, hoping to add another 2-3 and trying to encourage them to spawn also!!! they are very secretive fish, but if mixed with suitable tankmate and fed", (21) GoGoCactus, (22) Dave Rinaldo, (23) unblinded, (24) mouseninja, (25) obik101, (26) lizimal, who also notes: "Dec 08 - 2 others mysteriously vanished, only original UD left. New UD Cats - 03/14/08 - $5 each name: Claude. Zebra kutu colour form. ", (27) Chrysichthys (k: 5), (28) Lightbringer (k: 3), (29) pirate monkey (k: 5), who also notes: "What funny little creatures! they make me smile just thinking about them. I haven't managed to get them to eat from surface yet.", (30) jippo (k: 12), (31) didjman89, (32) LUISGOREY, (33) theonetruepath (k: 8), who also notes: "Three are 'Zebra' form", (34) griffl (p: 4, k: 4), who also notes: "Added second which play together everyday.", "Really cool fish. Had to replace the one I lost.", (35) Plunt, (36) synodontisjack, (37) San (p: 2), (38) loachy_406 (k: 3), who also notes: "i have two dark ones and a 'grey' one. They are now becoming a lot braver and search for food with everyone else when the light is off. They tend to swim 'upside up' when they feed.", (39) Upsidedowner (p: 2), (40) joe.juice13 (k: 3), (41) Mariea, (42) norfolkgarden (p: 2, k: 7), who also notes: "Ecellent personality! Constantly playing in the filter outflow or exploring the tank. Ecellent personality! Constantly playing in the filter outflow or exploring the tank.", (43) nmonks (k: 3), (44) iam1ru12 (k: 5), (45) AimsPink, (46) tjcher, (47) doesdavid (k: 6), (48) Dongjin-Kang, (49) seds (k: 4), (50) smegforbrains, (51) ali12345 (k: 4), (52) unkaface, (53) kiwiplymouth, (54) reneb, (55) fischkringli, (56) synofreak, (57) andy75, (58) Nick44 (k: 3), (59) Mike C (k: 2), (60) ariefputranto, (61) judeblackburn (k: 3), (62) corymkl, (63) badtaz30, (64) Caracal (k: 9), (65) Komolaj1 (k: 3), (66) astinus, (67) naturalart (k: 3), who also notes: "Partly bought them to relax my S.alberti and it did the trick. Now on the search for a female.", (68) elle_1313, (69) ayrtoninst, (70) LowClassCC, (71) pickles4601, (72) Viktor Jarikov, who also notes: "very elusive, fast, very good unfussy eater; true to his name; has not grown much unlike others", (73) Wallace (k: 3), (74) stuart264, (75) oli (k: 4), (76) Bijn (k: 5), (77) d3n2 (k: 2), (78) chubbikins (k: 5), (79) alpha (k: 6), (80) tijani, (81) NC24, (82) fishmanbill (k: 2), (83) Mezel (k: 4), who also notes: "I got 4 of these, read about them for a long time. Just love watching them swim. They get along very well with my feather fins.", (84) N0body Of The Goat (k: 11), (85) rommer (k: 7), (86) ad8, (87) GoldenFeather, (88) Buddiechrist, (89) JamesStuddart (k: 4), (90) arapaimag (k: 8), (91) Draco Spectrum, (92) Starfish42, who also notes: "My oldest fish! Originally had 2, but the other died years ago. Just how long can these live?", (93) TheInfamous, who also notes: "Usually stays around the filter away from the other fish, but very cool.", (94) ilikefishme, (95) GreenSynoMan (k: 3), (96) Katherine, (97) clydeboy (k: 2), (98) Catfish freak, (99) Bruton, (100) scalvinfish (k: 5), (101) transporter42 (p: 2), (102) jimlaroche83 (k: 3), (103) lasteeves (k: 5), (104) cochito, (105) mamoo (k: 4), (106) wirikwiri, (107) guardianfyre, (108) lazymonsterboy (k: 2), (109) merit, (110) mg7454 (k: 5), who also notes: "I was so happy to find these guys! I love watching them play all day around their favorite pieces of Mopani driftwood (which are standing in the corners of the aquarium). They are somewhat active all day; and at night, when I turn on the lunar LEDs in white & actinic blue, they zip around and play all over the aquarium. They are so much fun! The water parameters are 79 degrees, soft and pH is 6.8. I give them Hikari frozen blood worms every day, and they have some of the Aqueon tropical fish flakes I drop in for all of the fish in the aquarium. They also love Hikari algae wafers, they steal them from my Pleco when he's not right on the wafer!", (111) Sam (k: 6), (112) miguel mitchel (k: 2), (113) dbl_dbl, (114) FerocactusLatispinus (k: 4), who also notes: "Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp. Moe defends any area near him vehemently and is the most reclusive and skittish. With their little beards, they're all probably the cutest of the cats in the tank!", (115) linuxrulesusa (k: 3), (116) Catfishfingers, (117) rizla75, (118) p44236.

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