PlanetCatfish.com

Hey,

I am busy setting up 2 syno tanks, 1 for S. decorus and 1 for S. nigriventris and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put some drift wood into the water and let it leach out some tannins to give the water that 'tea' colour. Most importantly, does anyone know if the natural rivers and ponds these syno's come from are normally clear or 'tea' coloured and if this would maybe give the syno's a slightly increased sense of security and maybe convince them to be a bit more adventurous.

What other water paramaters are important for river syno's. I am really interested in conditioning them nicely and hopefully getting the nigriventris to spawn (if my luck holds up).

Finally, what live foods are easy to breed/collect/produce for these syno's. I have read that decorus like snails any other ideas?

Thanks

Welcome to planet catfish Stefan.

Bogwood leaching tannins into the water isn't as necessary with the 2 synos you mention as it would be with some south american species.

Really therefore it is a question of aesthetics & providing many hidey-holes which which give the fish confidence & encourage them to be active. Neutral water is fine & i have had rerasonable success breeding daphnia in water butts outdoors although for convenience you can't beat frozen foods - the synos won't really care & will not be fussy eaters - breeding condition could be achieved with a varied diet of more regular foods.

The colour leaked from the wood is immaterial the key would be the chemical composition, but it is not a key facor in maintaiing top health.

I have not known decorus to be a significan eater of snails (compared to lake synos) but i too would probably prefer an easy meal to having to fend for myself & eat snails if there was little else!

Thanks for the info and the welcome I have been here before but under another name.

I would not prefer snails over a ready meal either but then again, I aint no fish

I kinda get confused with these fish if they are river or pond fish as I would imagine the water parameters in each to be different, with the pond side having a slightly higher nitrate level etc.. etc.. Also, do they usually spawn just after a rainy season? So i should try an mimic this by decreasing water and feeding while increasing temp and then do a massive water change with lots of current and new and interesting foods?

Finally, I have found that syno's dont usually like being moved and tend not to eat much/at all for the first week to 10 days after being moved. Any ideas on how to minimise this?

Thanks

The Lake synos come from very different water composition to those found in the african river systems, In fact i think (maybe wrong) that Tanganyikan has some of the most alkaline water in the world that's habitable by fish. I am not sure about the nitrate content part as tanganyika is a truly massive body of water (more of an inland sea) - if it was a small pool i could see the logic behind your thinking.

I think a spawning attempt would be best done along your lines of thinking with mimicing the rainy season.

I have noticed my synos not liking being moved but are ok after 24-48 hours usually.