PlanetCatfish.com

Hi!
I am planning on keeping Synodontis brichardi along with some Gobiocichla wonderi.
I know that both need fast and rather cool water.
But since the Synodontis brichardi will be around 6 inches I would like to make sure there is no problem with them and they won't end up eating my cichlids!
I also would like to know your experiences with this fish!
Cheers
Yann

S. brichardi is the most peaceful large syno I have seen, besides S. decorus. I'm pretty sure you won't have any problems w/ it eating even the smallest fish. I have two right now, each with drastically different personalities. One, which I have had for 6 years, is very small (5 inches) considering he already has his adult coloration (dark brown with very thin broken stripes) and shy. The other is very active and will even take food from the surface. He is only a youngster and is already larger than the old guy, whose growth was stunted by a nasty Ich outbreak in the shop where I bought him.

They don't have any special water chemistry requirements besides higher than nrmal DO2. They also seem to do better in pH ≤ 7.

Rusty

Hi!
Thanks for the info, that what I was thinking of, n^but was not so sure!
Glade to have this sort out!
One of the shop I usually go to, is able to order some young Czechs hormon bred Synodontis brichadi.
The problem being that they are so young they don't have the typical adult colouration. They rather seem to carry spot and being pretty dark.
Anyone ever seen really young Synodontis brichardi ( not even 2 inch big) so he could confirm or deny the youngster 's colouraton???
Cheers
Yann

The Swiss LFS scene sounds really awful, with som many hormone bred/ crossbreeds flooding them Is it that hard to get wild caught fish?

Yes, S. brichardi are prety peaceful, though they can hold their own against more aggressive fish. They are a medium sized Synodontis from the Congo rapids. I expect even small fish should be safe in their company.

Hi!
Yes Rusty it is pretty hard to get wild species!
Sadly very few shop propose quality fish. Most of them orderd fish in Poland , Czechs republic or Singapore. But some are able to get sometimes wild fish but rather common species. The few ones that were ordering wild fish or quality bred fish had to close because they were either too expensive or too specialised!
Cheers
Yann

I've had a brichardi since 1980. I have never seen any aggression. It hides alot although twice a week I feed frozen( bloodworms or brine shrimp ) and it comes to the top and eats out of my hand. A neat Syno- in retrospect wish I would have bought more. But after 22 years I'm a little hesitant to add new ones now.

Take care,
Tom

Hi!

Did I understand right, it is the same fish since 1980!!!???

How sad to keep him single. These should be kept in group, they are so great looking ...
well I must also admitt i want to give a try at breeding them once I have them!!!

Has it evre been done, I have read an account from Lee Finley but it was about courtship and applexus but without egg laying!
Anyone heard of some thing except hormone injection report???
Cheers
Yann

No, I have never heard of spawning S. brichardi in an aquarium.

While it would be nice to keep them in a group, I don't think these are schooling fish per se. We have two, an old one (9 years? Had him for 7) and a young one (2 years?). They ignore one another.

In the past, I had the old one in a 55 gal tank, and it acted quite reclusive. Now I have them both in a large 125 gal (500 liter) tank and they swim around a lot.

Hi!

I was able to see some before and I had always seen them in group, they behave quite peacefully without attacking each other like other species,but as they were kept singlely, I had to know how they would behave with smaller tankmates.

Could the device use to collect eggs shown in the Catfish of the Month, featuring Synodontis polli or Synodontis petricola be use with them, woould it be wise to assume such fish can breed the same way the others do , despite living in a environment different!

Cheers
Yann

First, AFAIK, no one has come close to breeding S. brichardi. Second, the usefulness of the contraption illustrated in the dwarf petricola CoTM is questionable.

Dinyar

Hi
Dinyar, I know these had never been bred in captivity unless with some hormone injection... still their behavior during that time should have been written down.
Lee Finley had a thing written down about a suppose breeding account ( without egg laying), it is strange that after somany years, nobody else as witness a single thing...

Cheers
Yann

I bought two juveniles a while back (about 2" long) and they turned out to be S. decorus instead so to be sure, I would stick with adults
Brichardi are indeed supposed to be very long-lived.
Is there any danger of the cichlids being too aggressive? Brichardi are a bit timid and easily bullied. I would avoid anything much more aggressive than, e.g., a breeding pair of kribs.
Brichardi won't harm cichlids except for possibly eating eggs during the night when the parents are resting, or the odd fry.
A good treat food is freeze-dried bloodworm, which floats for a while and brings them up to the surface.

S. brichardi are tough fish. They should be able to hold their own with pretty much any but the most belligerent cichlids.

Rusty

Hi!

They would be house with 7-8 Gobiocichla wonderi, a rather small cichlid, half of the brichardi at adult size!
In fact I was more worried about them being eaten by the brichardi... as they are not deep bodied...

Cheers
Yann

Hi!

Well just a quick update.
It seems that I have 3 females for sure and 2 males and one yet to be sexed. THe females are starting to show a rounded belly. I can also see the papilla out , at least it look like it as I can also see the anus.
THe fish are rather shy and hide quite a lot despite having strong current , not too warm tank (24°C) and a dim light . They don't go out much.
They do not school at all. I can see them crusing at each other.
I am also very impressed to their vegetarian needs, they totally destroyed a big Anubias despite being fed regulary with vegetables matters and spirulina tabs.
I als noticed tooth marks on their boddies especially near the caudal pedoncul and under the dorsal fin.
Regarding possible breeding, what would you think their breeding behavior should be, especially considering that they come from fast water rivers?
Cave spawners, open water spawners? Nest? surface? plants?
Cheers
Yann

The two most common modes of reproduction in fast-water catfish are:
1. Nest-builders in backwaters. The pair will construct a gravel nest in a backwater area.
2. Egg scatterers among rocks. The eggs are scattered among rocks and the developing eggs/fry are sheltered from the current by hiding among the crevices.

Hi!

Well just a little picture of what I believe to be a female.



Cheers
Yann

Lee Finley had a thing written down about a suppose breeding account ( without egg laying), it is strange that after somany years, nobody else as witness a single thing...

I´ve read that column too. The main question is: has someone really seriously tried to breed them? I have 6 of those at the moment and thought buying 7 more. After summer 2004 i put some serious time on this species.

Hello all,

It is nice to see that someone remembers the illustrated article(s) that I did on some apparent reproductive behavior in S. brichardi. Thanks. The first article was in FAMA and a later version in TFH. I am sorry that I don't remember the dates right off hand (I'll dig them out and note the dates in a later post). As has been noted here, there were no eggs produced, but I do still feel that "sex" was on the minds of the fish...esp. the males...in that the amplexus behavior (males head wrapping on the females...kind of like T-position in Corydoras, but with a flexible fish) was very evident. This behavior is actually quite common is many catfishes. I will also check with Jools and maybe I can get some of the photos posted somewhere on the site.

Care for now.

Lee

Yann Wrote:

Well just a little picture of what I believe to be a female.

Yann,
Synodontis brichardi can be sexed by venting just like most all other species of Synodontis.

Nov 1996 COTM

This is going back a few years

Synodontis pleurops was the only one I had difficultly with venting (the genital papillia was extremely tiny even on 10" long fish!)

Hi!

Any idea if Fishnut2 setup (which can be seen here) could eventually work as well for breeding Synodontis brichardi?
Otherwise what would be the best setup to succeed?
Cheers
Yann

The two most common modes of reproduction in fast-water catfish are:
1. Nest-builders in backwaters. The pair will construct a gravel nest in a backwater area.
2. Egg scatterers among rocks. The eggs are scattered among rocks and the developing eggs/fry are sheltered from the current by hiding among the crevices.

Any idea if Fishnut2 setup (which can be seen here) could eventually work as well for breeding Synodontis brichardi?

I thought that too.I can`t see reason why it wouldn´t work with S.brichardi.Maybe there should be holes in both sides so they can swim through fast and release eggs?

Hi Mika!

I don't think that having them swim through will be usefull, they will spawn like Syno using the "T" shape formation.
* Might look for the most peaceful place in the river to lay their eggs, so eggs and young would not be flow away by the current. River side, rock bed in "pool".Would be interesting to know if adults and young are found at the same place in the rivers???!!
* THey will lay their eggs in the current, on the bottom on a bed of small rocks so the eggs will be trap their....

Cheers
Yann

Dinyar wrote:No, I have never heard of spawning S. brichardi in an aquarium.

I think I heard Larry Vires say he spawned them but they young were too small and he lost them.

Jools

HI!

It will be very interesting to see how he did it and trying to duplicate it here... should probably work for many other species...
Cheers
Yann

HI

So far no success, I am doing 50% water change every 2 days with the heater unplugged overnight and pug back in 24 hours later.

After the water change the fish are very active and keep chasing each others...

I have not really seen any papilla out, just slightly but nothing well out as I had with the Microsynodontis polli...

keep working on them...

Cheers
Yann

you might stop doing that, and start conditioning them for next spring.

AFAIK Fish from the Great Riftlakes and from the Congo have their 'season' in our spring; ranging from march-april to june-august.

It's the Amazonians that start getting the urge right about now, or so.

crushed snails, insectlarvae, frozen crickets, mysis, gammarus, black mosquitolarvae, blackworms, spirulina, shrimpmix and so on and so on.

Hi Sid!

Ok thanks for the info!!

You are feeding your Syno frozen crickets??
Do you crush them a bit before, how big?

Cheers
Yann

not anymore, because I have Tangies now.

but when I had riverine, I fed all kinds of stuff....
I had Pantodons, African Knifes, Bichir-eels, GWBushfish (Ctenopoma acutirostre; usually called 'bushfish',couldn't resist, sorry ), Anaspidoglanis, S flavitaeniatus, S contractus etc.

And I worked in a reptile-zoo; so I had an unlimited cricketsupply.
I tossed them en masse in the freezer and thawed and crunched them just before feeding.
they contain less fat than Tenebrio-larvae or Buffaloworms. And since I knew what was involved in the cricketbreedery (good food) I knew it was prime stuff!