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I have seen a Syno. Acanthomias at my LFS and he is going for a good price and looks great too. He is about 6" now and I know they can get up to 15". I also know they are from the Zaire region of the Congo, much like my Kapampa Frontosa's.

But would the Acanthomias be a suitable tankmate for 8 Kapampa Fronts, all around 4" in size? This is in a 5ft 400 litre tank.

I am concerned about the temprament of the Syno more than anything. As far as water parameters etc, he seems a great choice.

I would like a single Syno cat for the tank but wanted something a little larger than a Multi or Petricola (which obviously do better in groups anyway, but you see my point).

If he would not be suitable, what about the other Synos, such as the eupterus or angelicus?

Many thanks (this is my first post by the way )

C. frontosa comes from Lake Tanganyika -- which has hard water, whereas S. acanthomias comes from the Congo River -- which has soft water. So though they may both be found in the country of Congo, they come from very different biotopes.

That being said, most Synos adjust well to moderately hard water, and it should not be a problem to keep C. frontosa and S. acanthomias together in a big enough tank. When both are adult, you'll need at least a 180 gal tank.

What are they like as far as temprament is concerned? Would they affect the Fronts? I know that Fronts dont like boistorous fish etc, would the acanthomias bother the Fronts, defend territory from the Fronts etc?

At the moment the fish is kept with mel. Arautus Mbuna cichlids so it's probably adapted to hard water already...?

I can't speak from experience, but I think that if you have a big enough tank, they should do OK together.

They're one of the more aggressive synos, if the one I recently got is a representative example.