New, presumably Synodontis angelica, in pretty rough shape.

[weeb]

Went to the LFS over the weekend to get a few fish to stock our tank when my girlfriend fell in love with a little guy in a tank. Searching the internet for the name listed on the card below the tank returned no matches, but she was smitten so we brought him home anyways. After doing some research, my best guess is that it is in fact a Synodontis angelica, however this id was complicated by the fact that it apparently has no fins left. It was in a tank with a bunch of juvenile Labidochromis caeruleus, so my best guess is that they did a number on his fins. I now turn to the experts here for 1. confirmation of my id. I feel fairly positive, but would really appreciate someone with more knowledge and experience to either confirm it, or point me in the proper direction, and 2. What should I do to treat the little guy. He is moving around, and seems reasonably well. It also appears he has been eating, though I haven't actually witnessed it. Is there any chance his fins will grow back, and if so what can I do to enable and encourage regrowth.

Thanks in advance.

[Birger]

1. confirmation of my id

You certainly seem to be correct with your ID

Synodontis angelica

...it would not hurt to take pictures again later when it is healed up and double check just to make sure.

2. What should I do to treat the little guy. He is moving around, and seems reasonably well. It also appears he has been eating, though I haven't actually witnessed it. Is there any chance his fins will grow back, and if so what can I do to enable and encourage regrowth.

Luckily Synodontis are surprisingly resilient...95 % of the time clean water, good food and being in an atmosphere of minimum competition will do wonders. Something to help keep any fungus problems with the fins could be used but minimally. The eyes look clear and in good shape. The fact this fish is eating is a good sign, use food it can not resist like some frozen bloodworms or almost any of the usual frozen foods would be good and this would help get it out and about. These do like someplace to go and hangout so a comfy cave or two would be ideal as well so it can feel protected.

What other fish are in the tank it is going into?
Keep in mind though the eventual size these do get and the disposition they have a reputation for...it is small now but they can be moody at a larger size, but worry about that later it takes awhile to get to that size, get it healed up first

I do have five of my own and I plan to have them a long time as I really like them.

Welcome to PlanetCatfish!
Birger

[Richard B]

Those fins have taken a hammering but should grow back with a little care & as long as they receive no further "unwanted attention"

[weeb]

Thanks for the replys.

The intention was to house it with African Cichlids, but we are holding off until this summer after a possible move so we don't have to move with a really large tank. Until then I was planning on keeping it with a few Labidochromis caeruleus and 2 Blood Red Parrots. We had it in that tank for 2 days, and for the most part everyone ignored it, and it had found a nice cave to claim. But I noticed yesterday that my dominant L. Caeruleus was nipping at its tail, and decided to pull it out. Until it heals it is in my 37 community tank, it has plenty of cover with 2 decent sized pieces of bogwood, and a couple rocks. None of the fish in there are nippers, or at least haven't been as of yet, so i don't worry about them bothering the S. angelica, and it can't move fast enough to really get to any of them. I figure once he is healed up, and hopefully before he gets to big I will try to put him back into the other tank again and see how that goes.

Thanks again.

[MatsP]

If by african cichlids you mean fish from the rift-lakes, such as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, then I would say this is not quite ideal. The S. angelica is a riverine fish, that likes a lower pH and hardness than the rift-lake cichlids would like.

--
Mats

[sidguppy]

don't put it back in with the Mbuna's!

the reason it looks like this is almost sure 100% caused by Mbuna's in it's former tank....

fins don't fall off by themselves and most catfish that are severey damaged in the trade end up like that because of cichlids

THE main culprits are Malawian Mbuna's and Central American species.
both are very popular because they're dead easy to keep, colorful and almost unkillable

anyone can keep them. there's no skill involved at all.

people add a catfish to nasties like that and then the suffering starts. I've seen far too many catfishes that have been dismantled by such cichlids.
Anmcistrus without eyes, Hoplo's without fins or whiskers, Syno's like this and other cats stripped off their mucus layer.

the only good catfishes for a Mbuna tank are certain* Syno's from Tanganyika and only when there's ample hiding space; Texas holey Rock for example.
those particular species have grown up in densely packed cichlid communities and hence can cope with them.

the Syno angelica is a non fussy fish when it comes to waterparameters and it can exist in both Tanganyikan or Malawian set ups, but only when the cichlids from that part are the more easy going species

for Malawi this would be Lethrinops, Placidochromis, Protomelas, Aulonocara, Sciaenochromis, Otopharynx and the like.
no Mbuna.
for Tanganyika this would be frontosa's, Limnochromis, Altolamprologus, Cyathopharynx, Cyprichromis etc.

the best however is indeed a more wood/planted/Central African orientated biotope with softer neutral water. Congo tetra's, Steatocranus, Pelmatochromis, Barbs, Black Knife (Xenomystus), Pareutropius etc are much better suitable

if biotope is not a large issue; a bogwood Amazon tank with the more docile fish; medium large Characins, Geophagus, Mesonauta etc would be just as well.

there's another reason too to skip the Mbuna tank: it's dietary. Mbuna's need a veggie based algae rich diet with spirulina flake. the angelica is much more a carnivore and can handle artemia, bloodworms, chopped up molluscs, mysis, regular flake etc; all of wich is bad for Mbuna.


*Tanganyikan Syno species like Synodontis lucipinnis, S petricola and S "polli White" do fine on a veggie based diet and can even handle being kept with Tropheus or Petrochromis. these do just as well in a Mbuna tank.

[syno-kev]

I can confirm he is best kept in a tropical fresh water tank not malawi set up !
with no competition from other catfish or other larger fish especially cichlids who will try and finish him off .

live food like bloodworm or frozen prawns and the usual sinking catfish pellets will bring him on and within 2-3 months he should be back to almost a full fish again ,
i have had synos in a bad state from shops and soon had them back to full strengh they are a very hardy fish and as long as your water is in good quality and ph around neutral he will be fine.

keep us informed on how he goes and you could have him around for 25 years or so !

[Richard B]

Oo-er Mbuna is nowhere near ideal for Angelica on so many points

[weeb]

Hmm, I had really hoped that the L caeruleus would have been an acceptable tankmate. I realise that Mbuna aren't ideal, but they are considered amongst the most peaceful of the group. I guess over the next few months we need to really assess what direction we want to go. Clearly the S. angelica will need a bigger home than the 37 he is in now, so i know that I either need to build something to suit it, or accept the fact I need to find it a new home which would be quite difficult to do after spending months nursing it back to health. Not that I regret rescuing the little guy, but i really wish i had been afforded the opportunity to do a bit of research before making this purchase.

[andywoolloo]

gosh, the poor thing. he looks bald.

well done for rescuing him. If he were mine I'd put him in a tank all by himself till he grew his fins back. So he can be in peace and recuperate.

I hope you decide to keep him, and with some peaceful tankmates. poor thing.

it's a rather costly fish around these parts and rarely available. best wishes with him.