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How many 2.5" (6.5 cm) S. Multipunctatus could be successfully kept in a 4 ft. (1.2 metres), 80 gallon (300 litres) setup? How many could be kept at adult size?

Assume they are to be the only catfish species, and will only share substrate with a couple of smaller Bristlenose Ancistrus.

The cichlid component would be 2" (5 cm) Tropheus Duboisi that are being "grown out" for eventual sale. Breeding of the Tropheus in this setup is not a requirement.

Depends on how many Tropheus you are growing out and what you eventually intend to do with the multi's( or possibly )
Are you just growing them out as well or have grander plans?
They will not compete so much with the ancistrus who will tuck themselves somewhere most of the time, but more with the Tropheus for space and food, they like their home base but will also be seen cruising around
What do you intend to feed the multi's?
What do you intend to feed the gastronomically sensitive Tropheus?

Birger

Good questions from Birger - without a little more info it's almost a "how long is a piece of string?" question. If we said for example 20 small ones - there might not be any room for them to grow or 8 adults might be a number to suggest but this doesn't consider the dubosi & their needs. Importantly Birger mentions diet as lake synos are mollusc eaters & ideally would be fed chopped prawn, cockle, mussell, frozen bloodworms, earthworms as well as any stanard aquarium flake, tablets etc, which is not ideal for the dubosi. Another thing to consider in stocking levels is that in a small group there can be a significant pecking order & a bit of aggression - f the numbers are increased it cuts this out but the filtration & water change regime must be up to it.

At the moment i have 5 8cm long in a 120cm tank, I'm going to add 2 more, so i think 7 is a nice number.

[mod edit: Fixed incorrect clog tag usage: Jools]