Need some advice

Herman63 · Post by **Herman63** » 02 Apr 2003, 18:44

Hello,

I have just bought 10 Synodontis flavitaeniatus and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on keeping these syno's. They range in size from 1.5" to 3" I am having a little trouble with them eating seem they only like flake and frozen bloodworms. They don't touch anything in pellet form.

I also have 10 - 2" Synodontis eupterus which were sold to me as upsidedown cats.
These are little eating machines.

These fish are in seperate tanks, but could they be put together?

Thank you, Herman63

Post by **Silurus** » 02 Apr 2003, 19:06

I hope you have a large tank to house the synos, as S. flavitaeniatus can reach about 8" and S. eupterus about 9". They can be kept together, but you'd need a really big tank (bearing in mind that you will have 20 8-9" fish) to ensure that they have enough swimming space and territory.

Herman63 · Post by **Herman63** » 02 Apr 2003, 19:15

Thank you for you reply.

What are we talking how bigof tank, lets say for just one type.

Also what time frame does it take them to get that big.

In the cat-elog I thought it said the Synodontis flavitaeniatus would only get to 6.2 iches

Thanks

Post by **Silurus** » 02 Apr 2003, 19:38

For ten 8-9" synos, you are looking at about 300 gallons if you go by the 1 cm of fish to 4 liter ratio. I think a safe minimum is about 200 gallons.
The disparity in the lengths for S. flavitaeniatus is because PC quotes standard length (SL) while the sizes I gave were total length (TL).

Post by **Rusty** » 03 Apr 2003, 00:22

Never seen a flav bigger than 4", though I've read that they get larger. Anyone else see/have a >4" flav?

S. eupterus otoh can easily get up to 9" SL.

Rusty

Herman63 · Post by **Herman63** » 03 Apr 2003, 00:29

Then my next question would be do you think sexual maturity is a size thing or age?

Also are there any articles on breeding syno's?

Thanks for the replys

Post by **Rusty** » 03 Apr 2003, 00:36

Both size AND age. (These usually go together!

) Unlike say cichlids, most Synos take a couple of years to reach sexual maturity.

Yes, there's a fair amount of data on breeding Synos, including at Planet Catfish (Shane's World and Catfish of the Month articles). Synos are not as easy to breed as say Corys or Loris, but many species have been bred.

Rusty

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 03 Apr 2003, 01:36

I wouldn't put those particular species together.

Flavi's are VERY SHY, and they will suffer from malnutrition when combined with the fast, boisterous and much more day-active (and thougher) Eupterus.

I think if you would combine Flavi's with other Syno's, I'd go for some decorus or pleurops, brichardi's, nigriventris, contractus etc. all much more peaceful, or slow enough to get the very nocturnal and shy Flavitaeniatus a chance on the food.

Post by **Dinyar** » 03 Apr 2003, 03:14

We have an old flav that used to be very shy. Almost a year ago, we moved it to a much larger tank of Tanganyika synos. These guys are C-R-A-Z-Y. All I have to do is walk past the tank and all the fish go into an absolute feeding frenzy, like a school of hungry sharks spying a bleeding dolphin. About a month ago, we moved the flav back into a W. & C. African tank. Now it's much more aggressive and swims all over the place.

Weird, huh?

Dinyar

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 03 Apr 2003, 13:33

They can live for up to 20 years, I've read. To all syno fans--keep records! e.g. a spreadsheet or diary.