Help!!!

[bigdaddynole]

I started up a brand new 75 gallon aquarium about one year ago to the date ----- I had a breeder send me 10 very small Frontosa & a pair of Synodontis nyassae

imagine my suprise this evening when I found a VERY SMALL Synodontis nyassae swimming within the rocky area that I provided the fish in my African tank!!!

How many are normally born at one time?
Is it rare to find a breeding pair of Synodontis nyassae??
Should I pull them out and start another aquarium and leave them in there by themselves???
How often do they breed?
How many babies (or whatever the correct term is) are born at a time?
Is it safe to assume that there might be more or that my Frontosas ate all but the one I see???

What would you do if you were in my position????
Any and all help, suggestions and advice is truly appreciated!!!

thanks in advance!!!!

[bigdaddynole]

the cats I have are actually Synodontis Petricolas ........... not sure if this changes your answers or not

eagerly awaiting any & all input!!!

[Dinyar]

Congratulations on becoming a daddy, Bigdaddy! I started replying to your post assuming you had S. nyassae, but am now revising this to S. petricola. Either way, it's an achievement. The difference is that S. petricola is more common than S. nyassae and easier to spawn.

How many are normally born at one time?

20 or so.

Is it rare to find a breeding pair of Synodontis nyassae??

S. nyassae, yes, S. petricola, not very.

Should I pull them out and start another aquarium and leave them in there by themselves???

You don't say how big your fry is. If you can set up a tank with a mature filter, keep it clean and ensure that the fry is eating, you're better off putting it in a separate tank, as it's likely to get eaten by the C. frontosa otherwise. A better alternative may be to put it into one of those breeding nets that attach to the inside of the tank, and give it some hiding places in there.

How often do they breed?

Depends. If you are lucky, it could be often.

Is it safe to assume that there might be more or that my Frontosas ate all but the one I see???

It's probable that the C. frontosa (and/or other fish, including the parents themselves) ate some/most of the fry, but it's entirely posssible that there is more than one left. The only way to make sure is to take all the rocks out and inspect each one very carefully as you do.

BTW, I had almost exactly the same experience as yours with multipunctatus fry. First I saw one by accident. Then I took the whole tank apart and found two more.

What would you do if you were in my position????

Take the tank apart, catch the fry and place them in an in-tank refugium (breeding net). Feed things like chopped up bloodworms, baby brine shrimp, etc. Fry of S. petricola grow very slowly.

Hope that helps. And welcome to the Planet Catfish Forum!

Dinyar

PS: BTW, Bigdaddy, we strongly encourage all forum members to list their location in their Profile. This is just so that we can help each other better.

[bigdaddynole]

now I'm wondering how long this one has been in there ......... because this one is at least 3/4" long .... possibly 1" long!
how big are the fry when they're born?
based on the size I'm guessing, how old might they be???

damn, I'm feeling like a total dolt for never seeing it/them before!

the petrocicolas rarely come out ..... but they seem to enjoy hiding in the spots that the fronts create for them ..... the fronts are ALWAYS digging ...... almost to the point of being messy/annoying

[Dinyar]

There are petricolas and there are petricolas, but let's not get into that now.... Assuming you have the "dwarf" variety, the more common kind and the only one I know of being bred by hobbyists, it would take at least six months and possibly a year for it to reach 3/4 inch. At that size, I'd say just leave it in the tank and don't fix it if it ain't broke.

Dinyar

[bigdaddynole]

which makes me think that the ones I got were "fertile" ...... the little one that I saw today is pretty small ---- jsut worried about the other ones picking on him .... but he's got a good spot to hide

[Sid Guppy]

I got my group this way; adding tiny ones and adult ones (not closely related); mix them up; voila: breeding group.
Usually S petricola's are nice to each other. Even adults and tiny ones. As soon as they look like a small syno; they got their pectorals and dorsal spines. No Front will like that spiny mouthful; not to mention, they are fairly quick.
Frontosa's are capable hunters of SLEEPING fish (in the wild they prey on Cyprichromis, wich is way too fast for them, when awake), and hunt in the dusk and dawn; but syno's are up & running at that time as well!
the egg count can run well over one hundred however; IF you get them to spawn in a breeding-tank; you'd be surprised. In a tank with other fish, it's mostly one, or two at thetime. over an amount of time, you can gradually build yourself a group.

for the record: Synodontis nyassee has an annual breeding season (it's been bred in captivity) and no tendency to use parasitism at all, just plain eggscattering.
Unlike the already bred species of Tangsyno's, who seem to breed year round, and are breeding oppertunists.
It might have to do with the fact that Lake Tang (and it's fish) is older, and that many Tangsyno's can practice one form of broodparasitism, or another. (this is at least true for S multipunctatus & related species; S polli and related species and the S petricola-complex.)
And S nyassee is probably still closer to it's riverine ancestors; riverine syno's almost always have a breeding season; like most riverine tropical fish: at the start of the rainseason.