Lophiobagrus cyclurus or Phyllenomus typus. Which one?

Post by **Barbie** » 03 May 2006, 07:01

If you could only have one, which one would you choose? I've been looking for these guys for years now and wouldn't you know, the list has BOTH of them on it this week and there's just no way I can swing groups of both of them. I'm cool with fish hiding all the time. Both have interesting spawning behaviors and I have a few (:lol:) Tanganyikan themed tanks they could live in, no problem. Help!

Barbie

worton[pl] · Post by **worton[pl]** » 03 May 2006, 10:11

Hey,

I would say phyllonemus

- I got both l. brevispinis (are you sure that yours are cyclurus?) and p. typus and I love them the same

but phyllonemus are much more active and you can even tame them a little - sometimes I can touch mine

) - just imagine their loooong, cool barbels touching your finger!

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 04 May 2006, 10:24

It depends entirely wich species you have and more: what tankmates?

the true L cyclurus is incredably tough! to kill one you would need a club or another bigger cyclurus

they are fiercely territorial and if they don't match (say a male and female) even a 132G with plenty rockwork simply is too small......

for example: I worked my way thru 4 pairs before I got a matching one; now I finally breed the cyclurus.

P typus is a difdferent ballgame. they're territorial to each other (esp adult males) but not so bad fish get killed. given room and plenty caves you can easily keep a group. this is better too, somehow they like and need the interaction.
A solo cyclurus is a happy fish, a solo typus is not.
P typus has one disadvantage wich recently cost me my breeding pair

it is MUCH more suspectible to foodcompetitors than the Lophio's and I made the mistake of putting mine back in the showtank with 14 adult Synodontis. (granny, polli, petricola). that costed me my breeding male. I traded the female to someone who already had a group.
now I'm on the hunt for new breeding material. and in the process of splitting up the Syno-herd; spreading it out over several tanks.

both species do eat small fish when adult. small shellies (for example female multi's) that forget to sleep deep in the shell and halfgrown sandcichlids like 1-2" Xenotilapia are fair game!

The Lophiobagrus brevispinis is the tiniest Claroteid in the hobby and also the smallest catfish from Tanganyika available. this one can be kept in small groups, despite the occasional shuffle between adult males. in a roomy tank 2-3 pairs should co-exist.
my definition of "roomy" starts at 100G mind! a 50G breeder is NOT a "roomy tank"

Post by **Barbie** » 04 May 2006, 16:33

I have 7 tanks up with Tanganyikan fish in them currently. Ranging from 55 gallon, 90 gallon, 125 gallon and one of the 190s. I've got 30 or so Syno. petricola and multipunctatus in a 180 gallon with yellow labs and lwanda peacocks also. I actually ended up with a reprieve from having to order immediately after getting the list and with the additional time I sold enough fish to make it feasible to get groups of both types. I know, big shocker, Barbie managing to find any way possible to buy yet more fish

.

The tropheus tank will be out, but other than that I keep mainly shelldweller and small varieties of Tanganyikans, along with a few species of Cyprichromis, Paracyps, and recently added Lamprichthys. The pair of N. leleupi are really the only borderline terrorists that I even have anymore and I've got no problem placing them in a home somewhere to add more cats! Imagine that, hehe.

As to the question about how I know which species, I'm ordering them from an availability list. That doesn't mean I'll GET cyclurus, but they're usually pretty good about accurately identifying things. I'm sure I'll be ok with posting some pictures ;).

Barbie

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 05 May 2006, 09:34

In that case order like 6 or so from both species; since it's postorder (wich is a very weird way for us Europeans to shop, we usually go to the LFS and choose fish on sight, but distances are shorter here, a lot) you cannot sex them, so I'd say go with groups and end up with breeding pairs.

I HAVE to put a warning on the shellie-issue however!
shellies are stricktly attached to the bottom of the tank.
Lophio's and typus are too! Synodontis -strange as it may sound- are NOT.
so a tank where a bunch of say, occies and petricola's co-exist nicely can be total hell for a bunch of P typus.....

do NOT expect to see Lophio's or typus dwell "up" in the rockpiles like Syno's; they don't.
really don't. they're "stuck like glue" to the lowest 2" of the tank and also dig out a cave under a rock to hide in or -in the case of the tiny L brevispinis- live and breed in a big shell.
this puts them rightaway in the shellie no-go area.

so in tanks where 1/2 or more of the floorspace is already taken by a territory of occies or a breeding colony of multies, P typus and Lophiobagrus are literally ripped to shreds
I've seen it happen in other people's tanks and it's NOT something you wanna watch.

Post by **Barbie** » 05 May 2006, 17:18

Awesome! Thanks Sid!

I actually only have a pair of shellies in each of the bigger tanks. I've also had shellies rip up shellies and I have great luck keeping them in pairs or trios with more room. I just justify it by throwing in some ancistrus to riase fry in the same space with rock piles and caves quite a distance from each other and the shells out in the open sand area. I wouldn't mind just adding them to my tank with Paracyps and millenium rainbows for that matter. I just might need to add some more rockwork for them to hide in.

When I was going to order them I had a day and a half to figure out funding, but now that it's stretched to a full week and I've had a fishie fire sale I'll hopefully be able to get both groups and see how I do ;).

Barbie