Polka-Dot or Pyjama Syno's?

[firemouth]

I am going to set up a 5ftx2ftx2tf tank, which will include some firemouth cichlids and some thoricthys ellioti also.The substrate is sand, the tank has quite a few rocks(big and small) some nice bits of bogwood, lots of tunnels and is quite well planted. 2 Rena xP2 external canister filters filter this tank. I have a bit of a dilema, I wish to include some species of synodontis(either the Pyjamas catfish or the Polka dot catfish). I have some questions regarding these two.

1. Would any of the synodontis species i want work here.
2. Which of these would be more suited to this aquarium.
3. I have heard they like to be kept in groups, would i have room for this and if i did, how many of each could i keep?
4. Would they bully, or be bullied by the Firemouths?
5. Is there any tricks to keeping Syno's.
6. What should i feed them when they get bigger?

At the moment the tank is not set-up, so i want to make no mistakes. Any help would be much appreciated. [/b]

[Sid Guppy]

Thorichthys is rather nice as cichlids go; esp in a big tank. I'd go for Pyama cats (flavitaeniatus); they're smaller (5-6" usually max) and social, and very friendly if not downright shy. Polkadots (angelicus) are quite the opposite, and they get a lot bigger! And they can only be kept in a group in a HUGE tank (>200G), else better kept single.

haven't seen pyama cats in years! are they for sale in your area?

To your questions: a tank like yours with two or three pairs of Thorichthys, can easily house 4-6 Syno's as well; given that you put up the woodwork properly, wich means upright or diagonal. Thorichthys sticks to the floor, but Syno's like to rest upsidedown under a bit of wood, no matter how high. So with some creativity, you can avoid the cichlids and the syno's getting in each others' way. Use big liveplants too, like Giant Vallisneria etc.
They eat exactly what your cichlids like; be they young or adult. good quality flake, pellet or granules, bloodworms and other insectlarvae, and all kinds of crustaceans.
And the occasional cichlidfry! If the parents aren't watching you might miss a few.

[Sam]

Ok, now as far as i have known the polka-dot syno is synodontis decora, so I'm confused about why or how synodontis angelicus made it into the answer??
However Polka-dot synos can be kept with Pyjama synos (synodontis flavitaeniata) the polka dot grows about 9 inches and the pyjama about seven inches, I have kept these together for years very happily

[Sam]

well I stand corrected