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I can just find 24 fish. One is missing.

I belive to see some pollis, one granulosus, two multis an a petricola. The smaller ones I can't identify. Further I think that I can see Ctenochromis horei and Altolamprologus compressiceps.

Come on guys, tell me if I am right I am very curious!!

3 Altolamprologus compressiceps
2 Ctenochromis horei
1 Lobiochilotes labiatus
5 Synodontis polli
4 S. multipunctatus
2 S. dhonti
1 S. granulosus
1 S. brichardi
1 S. angelicus
3 Lophiobagrus cyclurus
1 Phyllonemus typus
--
24 Total

You have already told me that the different speed of growing of multis and petris is a problem. My LFS told me now that he can't order the fish in a size wanted. But he has allways petris with a size of 5 cm and multis with 9 cm available. Would this be OK?

They'll be fine. Tangsyno's are really easy to keep, just as long as you stick to a few golden rules:
-keep the social species in a group of 4-6 PER SPECIES* (those are multipuncs and allies, petricola and allies, polli and allies)
-make sure there's room for them, in the water as well as between the rocks and hide outs.
-waterparameters should be "tangy": pH 7-9, Gh 10 and up, nitrates and such as low as possible, Temp 24-26'C.

you'll see, they're fun to keep!

with non-social species I mean the more territorial species and the big ones (actually they're all social, but to keep those in groups; you'll need a huge tank). The tank for example to house 6 S nigromaculatus should be really whopping to avoid total war. It's a feisty fish!

*means that for example that the following is not good:
some people misread "4-6 syno's"; and put in for example: 2 multipuncs, 1 polli, two petricola's and a nigro, to name something. This is NOT a group of 4-6!!
I mean getting 4-6 multies and 4-6 petricola's OF THE SAME SPECIES (6 dwarfs OR 6 "burundi's" etc)

In your case: getting 5 or so multies and 5 or so petricola's is good!

What are allies?

Should have said it differently; but with "allies" I mean all those closely related species, subspecies, varieties etc etc.

Example: the "allies' of Synodontis multipunctatus are: S "multipunctatus Goldeneye", S cf multipunctatus, S "multipunctatus Zambia" etc. These all behave like the true S multipunctatus, but differ in size, eyesize, pattern of spots etc

For S petricola these would be "petricola Zambia", "petricola dwarf" , "Giant petricola", "Burundi petricola" etc.

OK, thanks for your help, that's what I wanted to know.
Today I collected some rocks to build a hiding place. I will post a picture soon.
Another question, wasn't eurystomus the former name of S. polli?

Another question, wasn't eurystomus the former name of S. polli?

Right. <i>Synodontis eurystomus</i> was already a preoccupied name, hence the change.

Hey!
NOW i'm curious! what does the REAL synodontis eurystomus look like then?
I just thought it was invalid (as in: a second description of a species already named, in this case S polli)

<i>Synodontis eurystomus</i> Pfeffer, 1889 is a junior synonym of <i>Chiloglanis deckenii</i> Peters, 1868. <i>Synodontis eurystomus</i> Matthes, 1959 is therefore a junior homonym.

In a former reply you said that the number of petricolas should be higher than the number of multipunks. I think 7 petricolas to 5 multipunks should be OK. Or do you think different?

In my experience, it's easier to keep them this way combined. Syno multipunc is a quite boisterous fish and can even be called disruptive.
S petricola is much more easygoing and can be intimidated by such behaviour (and thus will be more shy and hiding...); hence my hint that the petricola should be the biggest group and not reverse.

Not that it doesn't work or harms the fish at all, but it works BETTER if you have a lesser number of multipuncs than petricola. Since both are shoalers, the multipuncs should be kept as a group too. the minimum number of a syno group is 4-5, and this means automatically that the number of petricola's should be more.

IME two or three doesn't do justice to the active behaviour of both species, and since you're into Tangsyno's anyway (and not really into cichlids, more of an add-on, right?); I think it's best to get 5 or so multipuncs and 7 or so petricola's. I prefer keeping shoaling fishes in uneven numbers, but that's solely a matter of taste. Wich I don't follow that strickt btw, I've got 6 dwarfs.

SG_Eurystomus wrote:IME two or three doesn't do justice to the active behaviour of both species, and since you're into Tangsyno's anyway (and not really into c*****ds, more of an add-on, right?)

That's right. There will only be Tangsyno's in the tank. No cichlids.

I will put in 3 multipunk females and 2 males and 4 petricola females and 3 males? Any comments?

That'll work out just fine.

Just leave a nook or cranny empty in case you stumble on some non-syno Tangs; believe me; thingies like Lophiobagrus and Phyllonemus are well worth keeping, and they combine excellent with Synodontis.

Just ONE comment: it IS however advisable to put in some free-swimming "ditherfish". You can use Tangcichlids for this, Malawians (helps with breeding Syno multies!), Vics, or even non cichlids like Danio's, Congo Tetra's, Rainbowfish or livebearers. Even guppies can be used!

This solely to draw the Syno's right out in the open! If you keep just catfish, you might get a bit desillusionized; all these great fishes in the tank, and all you get is just rocks........

Great dithers should be fish that are:
-easy to keep,hardy, not fussy about food or waterparameters.
-easily available! It doesn't make any sense in stting up a nice tank next week and spend the next three years finding that specific fish....
-non-territorial! at least no claiming of any caves, those are catfish territory! peaceful, active shoalers make the best dithers.

Depending on taste entirely, but in your tank among a lot of others, the following can be used:
-Cyprichromis leptosoma; a shoaling Tangcichlid, extremely pretty and highly active. It even breeds right in the watercolumn, and spawns in open water, without using rocks!
-Placidochromis phenochilus or P electra. Malawians that make excellent hosts for Syno's, and look good too. Check out the spawning-with-syno pix on this very site...
-Bedotia geayi, Melanotaenia boesemanni, Glossolepis inciscus etc. Those 3 and others are Rainbowfishes, but the 3 mentioned are among the hardiest and easily available. do they look GOOD.
-Arnoldichthys spilopterus is one of the hardier Congo tetra's; it prefers the middle and upper waterlayers, and it's of a size with your cats. Yellow-eyed Congo's get a lot bigger and true Congo tetra's often don't like hard water.
-Giant Danio's (Danio malabaricus) are extremely tolerant shoalers and to say this is an active fish, is to do it injustice. More of a 78rpm speeddemon If ANY fish draws out cats, it's this one. If it won't, no fish on earth will.....
-Mollies, esp the close relations of the Black Molly, the Mexican Molly and the Sailfin Molly. All three like it salty OR hard and alcali; just like Tanganyikan waterparameters. They're up and running all day, thrustworthy peaceful and their spawning antics draw Synodontis petricola easy into spawning mode (breeding secrets
)

And how many of this so called "ditherfish" should I put in?

In our Tanganyika tank, we use Synodontis multipunctatus as the dither fish. They are constantly swimming up and down the tank, and are by far the most visible and active of all the species -- including cîchlids -- in the tank. Synodontis petricola happen to be the shyest of all the species in the tank.

Dinyar

So you mean that I don't need other fish to see my fish swimming around?

It depends... on many things, including the size of your tank ("s"), the number of specimens of each species ("n"), etc. In general, f(s,n) = a ("activity") is a secular, positive (i.e., constantly increasing) function. IMO, the most important variable is s. Dither fish may help but are not essential to seeeing your fish. And if you are doing a Tanganyika tank, then I'd recommend sticking to Tang fish like Cyprichromis. Again, for Cyps you need a largeish tank.

BTW, I think this thread must be one of the longest on the entire forum!

Dinyar

PS: I won't be on this Forum for a week or so, starting today.

It is because I have a lot of questions and you all have a lot to say