Lake Malawi Catfish

guppy253 · Post by **guppy253** » 29 Mar 2004, 03:12

What catfishes can you put into a Lake Malawi setup? Thanks Richard

Post by **Silurus** » 29 Mar 2004, 03:38

Depends on tankmates.
Rift Lake synos should be fine in most cases, particularly if you want to go biotope. Otherwise, a group of S. petricola or S. multipunctatus should be fine.

Post by **corybreed** » 29 Mar 2004, 03:41

Richard,
Synodontis multipunctatus will go well. Depending on the size of the tank Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps can adjust to the pH. Although it is not a catfish clown loaches can are tough enough to coexist with the cichlids.
Mark

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 29 Mar 2004, 21:35

I suggest Ancistrus instead of gibby's.

a gibby can and will reach 1 foot or more adult length, despite being an easy fish, it's a big one.
few people have Malawi-tanks that are big enough to keep a 1 foot gibby properly

ancistrus (the common brown variety) reaches 4" max or so. quite a difference.

Any medium small Tanganyikan catfish can be added in a Malawi tank, but make sure the other fish aren't overly nasty.
if you keep for example Melanochromis spp, Pseudotropheus elongatus or P lombardoi; make sure the catfishes have separate hiding places and are introduced at night after a good feed.

very sturdy Tanganyikan cats are Lophiobagrus cyclurus. due to their digging behaviour, toxic skinmucus and sheer toughness, few fish bother with them.

if you have gentle Malawians, like Aulonocara, Placidochromis and Labidochromis caeruleus; you can even add Phyllonemus typus or Lophiobagrus brevispinis.

Synodontis of course usually do fine. Due to S njassee often being very hard to get if anywhere, lots of Malawian fishkeepers here add Tanganyikan Syno's. with them, it's just tanksize and taste (and money!

) that will make up wich species.
Synodontis multipunctatus and S petricola (and related cf, aff. and subspecies) do fine, but they're groupers and should not be kept single. synodontis polli is also excellent, doesn't get too big either. S "polli White" (a non described 'new' species) is another great add-on. both like to be kept in small groups (3-6).

Synodontis dhonti, tanganicae, lacustricola and granulosus get very big (at least 1 foot or much bigger), the last one costs an arm and a leg too.......something for the huge tanklover.
S nigromaculatus reaches the same size -about 8"- and looks quite a bit like S njassee, but unlike S njassee it's a noxious, territorial beast; best kept solitaire.

1 other Tang cat shows up: Auchenoglanis occidentalis the Giraffenose. great fish, fun to keep, very peaceful (against non Giraffenoses) but unfortunately a GREAT fish, as in HUGE.

I have one myself, and unfortunately, it'll probably be a temporary guest.....3 foot monsters being somewhat difficult to house.

Other Malawian cats are either on the "we wish" list, or on the "too big" list or both.....Leptoglanis rotundiceps, Chiloglanis neumanni, Bagrus meridionalis, Bagrus orientalis, Bathyclarias.....

The same goes for Tanganyikan cats; Chrysichthys, Malapterurus, Dinopterus, Heterobrachus......
one is on my "I WANT THIS CAT!"- list too: Chrysichthys (Gephyroglanis) sianenna, the elusive "deep sea" catfish....

Post by **Dinyar** » 31 Mar 2004, 05:37

sidguppy wrote:Synodontis dhonti, tanganicae, lacustricola and granulosus get very big (at least 1 foot or much bigger), the last one costs an arm and a leg too.......something for the huge tanklover.
S nigromaculatus reaches the same size -about 8"- and looks quite a bit like S njassee, but unlike S njassee it's a noxious, territorial beast; best kept solitaire.

Agree with everything else you said, Sid, but IME, the large Tang Synos grow extraordinarily slowly. We have had a school of 5-6 S. dhonti for three years now and they have hardly grown much at all beyond the 4" SL size they were when we got them. Riverine Synos seem to grow much faster. Am curious to know why.

Dinyar

guppy253 · Post by **guppy253** » 02 Apr 2004, 01:43

What do you feed synodontist? I'm going wth if I can find them, Peackocks, deepwater hap and some others

Post by **corybreed** » 02 Apr 2004, 02:27

Synodontis are not fussy and will eat all aquarium fare.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 02 Apr 2004, 20:35

I agree, those big uns don't race the clock.

unfortunately they're very rare here, I only see singles -sometimes- contaminating "catfishmix" imports from Tanganyika.

I already have 1 fish that will get too big (giraffenose), so I stay away from dhonti's and the like.
But a good friend of mine took that single dhonti that was posted on this forum a while ago (funny, I also photographed and supplied the catelog with exactly that fish when it was in the shop still)

That dhonti is now about 6" and it's growing.....slow but sure.

his Tank's about 720 liters, most other fish in there are small. dhonti rules in there.
btw the owner is Jollypolli, also on the forum (but not often!

)

btw Dinyar; your post confirms my hunch that dhonti -unlike granny's and nigro's- is a fairly mellow fish that does fine in a group! good thing!
maybe you can experiment with weird foodstuff? like chopped-up sardines, crushed snails, dried Gammarus, earthworms, frozen crickets or roaches and stuff? I have fascinating results with food like that.....