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Hi
My Daughter has been given a tank with 2 parrot chiclids. She went to buy a catfish and was shown an upside down catfish, she was told it was a Synodontis. She was told it was pretty much fully grown and would be peaceful. However i think what she has is a Mystus leucophasis. I have looked up the info on this fish and am slightly worried. Can anyone tell me if 2 half size Parrots chiclids will be ok with the cat fish. There are no other fish in the tank Thank You

That is how many of these make it into peoples tanks, due to misimformation.

How large is the tank?

Unless you are very sure, a picture would help to clarify what your daughter has purchased.

Birger

IME the whole problem with the asian USD catfish is the "Jekyll & Hyde" unpredictability the fish can exhibit - a pic would be beneficial to be certain of the species

Hi
Thanks, i will try to get a snap of it tomorrow - at the moment it is behaving itself but it has taken over the Parrot fishes tree root!

is the silence a good or a bad sign?

my experience agrees with Richard's words - these guys can be bad or sweet, aggressive or passive...

whatever their temper may be, this fish gets HUGE

not as long as an adult shovelnose or something; but big enough and active enough to end up for 200G tanks and more.
I've seen fully grown adults in showtanks in Germany, or at least what I thought of fully grown and they were larger by a fair bit than Synodontis granulosus.
they have about the same length as a fully grown Oscar or frontosa male and almost the same bulk, as they grow in height and width when they're mature.

they can and do pass 1 foot in length with ease and this is a mobile active swimmer.
they're in the same league as Cephalosilurus or Synodontis schall or Ameiurus melas but with a lot more character.

a small tank for a fully grown mature leucophasis would be 2 feet deep, 2 feet high and 6 feet long. and that's cramped.

the best way of coping with their potential agression is to keep a group.
now these guys are viciously territorial; which gives you a glimpse about how huge a tank for 4 or 5 of these beasts must be.....



a large one in a Malawi tank.
the German ones I've seen were twice as big.

Nice pics, Sid, and your knowledge is indispensable, as usual.

sidguppy wrote:they can and do pass 1 foot in length with ease

Really!? Wow, 'd love to see that specimen.

sidguppy wrote:but with a lot more character

hear, hear

sidguppy wrote:the best way of coping with their potential agression is to keep a group.
now these guys are viciously territorial;

Really? 4-5? Mine two 6"-ers fought bitterly in a 55 gal - had to separate. Would dilution of aggression work well enough to ensure everyone's safety and prosperity?

sidguppy wrote:which gives you a glimpse about how huge a tank for 4 or 5 of these beasts must be.....

So, how huge?