I hope you didn't pay a lot for them.

Well, it's been about 6 months since I added these S. lucipinnis to my 90gal mbuna tank. The last of the T. moorii ikola passed away. They were all around 7 years old. I have since restocked the cichlid population in the tank with red and cobalt blue Pseudotropheus zebra and Labidochromis caeruleus....

Thanks for the replies. My Uaru have laid eggs two more times since my last post. I have a few wigglers in the nursery tank now. And, a fresh batch of eggs that I'm going to pull and put in another nursery tank. I'm glad the introduction of these big cats hasn't stopped the Uaru from spawning. Vikto...

Of course, as you describe as being happy, your syno could be getting more mature and used to the tank it's in. Smaller (under ~4") clown loaches are known for their "laps" they will do around (certain parts of) the tank--especially when kept in large groups. The syno is probably just...

I've kept L-204's for several years in an aquarium with a temp of 82-84 deg F, a pH of 6.5-7.0, and lots of water movement.

http://i29.tinypic.com/i4piq8.jpg http://i26.tinypic.com/2vmwopv.jpg http://i27.tinypic.com/2ew2p8i.jpg Here is the smaller (or less rotund) female, Big Bertha: http://i31.tinypic.com/1zyeou1.jpg Here is the male, Scrappy Joe, with the bigger female, Large Marge, behind the wood: http://i32.tinypic...

Andy, I'll try taking a few pics of the whole tank tonight. The synos have spread out in the tank now. Considering how big they are, they should help make for a nice panoramic shot of the tank.

You know what else is funny? My pair of Uaru amphiacanthoides decided to lay eggs today in the same tank I put these S. angelica in. The male Uaru was freaking out when the big female came cruising through the first couple of times. They seem to have sorted things out now. Still a little skirmish he...

at a Southern Counties Catfish Rescue Society show Mats, somehow I missed this little detail when I replied to you before. For some reason, I thought this meant it was in the Southern U.S. It'd be a little crazy to pay to ship one fish overseas. Whoops! Andy, the male is about 8", the females ...

Thanks, Mats. I'm always a bit wary of shipping any fish that are that large/old. I don't think they usually do as well with the stress of moving as younger individuals. If it were a rescue, and I was only paying for the shipping costs, I would consider overnighting it. Let me know on that. I'm stil...

Here are some pics of the S. angelica specimens I picked up today from a nice, fellow ichthology enthusiast in Brooklyn. He is selling his house and moving soon and will not be able to keep the tank (180gal) that they were in. He did have a lot of oddball stuff that I usually don't see in LFS's. Ver...

Just got back a little while ago. I wound up taking the Staten Island route to Brooklyn. Didn't feel like messing with Holland Tunnel and Manhattan traffic. It's always a pain when you first get onto the Staten Island Expressway--always traffic. But, it was a relatively easy ride. The fellow I bough...

Usually, when my catfish (synos and plecos) start acting funny like that, it's usually because the pH has gotten too acidic. I keep crushed coral in all of my power filters, but, sometimes the water will still go too acidic--most likely due to the large amounts of driftwood in my riverine tanks. Off...

Not too much food gets caught in the pebbles on the bottom of the tank. Hardly any flake food makes it to the bottom. The pellets and wafers usually sit on top of the pebbles or maybe fall into little nooks and crannies between pebbles. But, it's no problem at all for any of the fish to get at it an...

Here's another video of the same tank taken right after I fed the fish. I normally don't feed them quite this much at once. However, all the food was gone in about 5 minutes and all the fish had huge bellies. [youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie"...

Andy, I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you ask it differently?

IMO, driving in and around Boston is even crazier than driving around NYC. Both cities are the craziest cities to drive in and around in my experience. I grew up in NJ and have lived in the SF bay area for several years with trips down to LA and San Diego. LA has pretty bad traffic, but it is no whe...

Thanks, Mats and Andy. I stopped by Home Depot and picked up 3 five-gallon buckets with lids for less than $10. I inspected about 10 or so buckets and picked out the ones that had the least amount of dust in them. I plan on rinsing them out thoroughly with hot then cold water. And, I'll make sure to...

Birger, I communicated with the seller in regards to what containers I should bring. He also recommended that I bring 3 separate containers--specifically three 5 gallon buckets with lids. I think this is probably the most efficient solution. I just have to see if I can find lids for the buckets I do...

Here is a video of one corner of the tank just after feeding. You can see how the synos go in and out of the rocks. As you will see, you can't see all 18. I don't think I've seen all of them at once since I put them in the tank. [youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param na...

Thanks, Mats. So you don't think it will be a problem to keep the S. angelica all in the same container when I move them as long as the container can hold enough water, yes? They are all around 10" TL and have been kept in the same tank (180gal) for several years. I am concerned about aggressio...

Let me see what I can do. Once it gets dark here, I'll see what types of movies and/or images I can capture. I'll try to take a movie during feeding time.

To answer the question in the title of the thread: yes! They seem to do very well in large-ish groups. I have had 18 S. lucipinnis in a 90gal (48"x18"x24") mbuna tank for about six months now. Sheesh! Has it been that long already? I have Richard to thank for implanting the idea to ge...

The morphology looks very similar to S. lucipinnis. I just think the markings look a little off. Could be a subspecies/racial variant, though.

Are those pics all of one specimen? Those are some VERY irregular blotches on the caudad-ward sides. Almost reminds me of the pattern of S. robertsi, just more distinct. I think you have either S. lucipinnis or some sort of S. lucipinnis hybrid.

Yeah, I was wondering what that specimen was as well. Off the top of my head, I was going to say S. decorus or S. ornatipinnis. However, I will defer to Richard on this one.

Birger, thanks. I understand that the riverine synos will typically not thrive in a mbuna tank. Over the years, every once in a while, I will see a S. angelica in a mbuna tank in a LFS. Sometimes, the syno has almost no fins left and shows signs of stress. IMO, synos are very hardy, for the most par...

I finally have found some S. angelica thanks to some of your suggestions. I hope I don't jinx anything by posting about it now, but I found a guy on aquabid who is in NY and was selling what he claims are 2 female and 1 male 10+" (TL) S. angelica for local pickup only. Since I am very close to ...

Good score. Although, I think that's a bit pricey. Anyway, best of luck with it. Let me know how it gets along with the S. lucipinnis. With my plans for S. angelica, one or two may eventually go into a mbuna tank with a large group of S. lucipinnis. However, I wonder if they will thrive in high pH, ...

Boubou, best bet is to take the fish out of the tank and hold it as per the sexing instructions on the Syno pages in the Cat-eLog (belly up in your hand with the dorsal fin held between your middle and ring fingers). Then, take a picture of the ventral (belly) aspect of the fish. Use the flash. You ...