eupterus's surprised me!

[andywoolloo]

I have cut back to once a day feeding of my 5 eupterus's for the last month. They were leaving some food in tank the next day after their night feeding. Never leaving frozen food just when I fed them pellets. Anyways they are big and beefy so I figured it was time. I feed them now once every day just before their lights go out at 4 p.m.

So today, when I put my hand in to put in their defrosted bloodworms and krill... they all came right over to my hand! Tank lights were on even! I didn't know till I felt their whiskers on my skin and I looked down, 5 big pretty synos all around waiting and whiskering!!

Just a first for me. They polished off both of those cubes and looked at me so I gave them some earthworm sticks and carivore tabs and they polished them off also.

Also I do not move their furniture anymore when I clean so they are quite happy campers. I have seen no more injuries.

[Richard B]

Synos will come to the hand once they are well established - watch out they don't get too frisky & spine you or give you a lil nip .

I was going to move an abalone shell in my tanks but it was restricted by a piece of rockwork. as i curled my fingers under the lip of the shell i felt a little something having a "taste" of my finger tips - not sure what but i suspect one of the lucipinnis

[andywoolloo]

does it hurt when they bite? I am careful to stay clear of their tall fins on the top. But sometimes when I add food they swim by at hyper speed and brush against my arm.

Once a day is fine now right? They are approx 4 -5 inches long and nicely proportioned? In fact I need to feed them right now. All are nice charcoal grayish except the youngest , he is pale gray , and pretty. I will try and get new pics up.

Oh! You have some of those adorable lucipinnis!!

[Richard B]

A "bite" from a syno doesn't hurt but being pricked by a spine can be agony - there is a thread in the african section somewhere about s.Filamentosus.

Once a day feeding is fine - you can even skip a day once in a while (as your fish are well established large species this will not hurt them one bit - i went away for the weekend so my fish were fed friday night & got their next feed on sunday night - no problems at all)

[andywoolloo]

cool thanks.

[Richard B]

come to think of it -i've left the tank unfed for a week befroe now with no problems at all - just hungry fish when i get back

[yorkshiredavid]

Hey

I have been bitten, twice, by an Ivory Synodontis (S. bastiani). No blood was drawn but very vivid red patches were left on my skin.

When the pectoral spine of a Synodontis 'species' Nigeria (colour form of S.nigrita) caught the middle finger of my right hand it was not a nice experience? The pain was terrific. Within what was only a few seconds the finger went black-blue in colour. My hand immediately swelled and the two surrounding fingers began to show the same dark colour. The late Des Penny had always told me that if you had a reaction such as this to a Syno. 'sting' treat as though stung by a marine Lionfish and plunge your hand/skin into boiling water. Thankfully the kettle was on for a cup of tea (well I am British) so into boiling water the hand went. The swelling immediately went down and the dark colour of the fingers disappeared very quickly. Once the pain of the water went down you could see the little 'hole' in my finger made by the fin.

As you can imagine I had a very nasty hand for sometime but I think that had I not taken this action that things would have been much worse health wise.

I learned a valuable lesson and would never catch a Syno. with a net now.

From talking to retail outlet assistants (one of whom told me that he had experienced the tip of an angelicus spine stuck down a thumb nail) it appears that Synodontis 'stings' have the same effect as those of bees in that some people feel the pain but no further effect while other people have similar experiences to mine.

Just for the record, several years on, the 'species' Nigeria is still in my care.

Regards David

[andywoolloo]

I need to be more careful when I put my hand in to feed them apparently.

I always put their food on the bottom in 2 diff spots, maybe i should just drop it in from the top but then it wouldn't go where I wanted it to go.

Mine have never fed from the top so I always place their sinking dry food at the place where they eat and the defrosted food too.

Maybe I should get some implement to do this.

Black and blue fingers, boiling water!

[Carp37]

Hi Andy-
Could you drop the food down a tube, like a gravel vac with the top part taken off? That way you could still place the food where you wanted without risk of getting stung.

Stu

[Chrysichthys]

I've been bitten by a Synodontis longirostris when it thought I was offering food. It hurt a bit, but it was mainly just startling. I agree that a spine stab is much worse.

If you want something that really bites, try

Hemibagrus wyckioides

.

[Richard B]

Not been done by that one Chrysichthys but

Zungaro zungaro

wasn't too pleasant

[andywoolloo]

do they have to actually activate something to sting you with the top fin? what if it just brushes against you as they swim by?

I' ve been being more careful, they still come very close and I can feel their whiskers on my fingers when I put the food. And they swim by close.

Good idea with the tube from the gravel vac Stu.

[Richard B]

brushing against you should have no effect - the spines must puncture the skin for problems to occur.

It can easliy be done by a startled fish but is not a common occurrance. It sometimes can be a bit more than mildly irritating (i was done by a nigriventris once & took no counter-action at all - but i would recommend doing something - at times i am an idiot!!!) On the flip side it can be excruciating (dependant upon species?)

Or in the extreme, although not a direct comparison, look at the sadly departed Steve Irwin!

[Carp37]

What kind of dentition do synodontids have? I wasn't aware they had any teeth, though they might have gill rakers? Judging by the fact that my eupterus seems to be the only fish I've got that can swallow JMC catfish pellets, do they have grinding plates or similar in their mouth? I'd never even considered the possibility of getting bitten by my syno. For the first 4 months I had her I though of her as "invisicat" as I almost never saw her, but now she actually comes out when the light's switched on as she recognises that as the main feeding time.

I was aware of them having a toxin in their fin spines- does this include the pectorals or is it confined to the dorsal spine? Is it as toxic as the marine Plotosus lineatus? I seem to remember reading, years ago, that one of the scientists that described them (not sure if it was actually Thunberg as I can't find the reference now- it might be in Burgess's TFH catfish atlas but then again might not!) spent more time describing the symptoms of getting stung than he did the fish.

[andywoolloo]

Poor Steve Irwin.

[Richard B]

Carp37 - plotosus are quite dangerous i believe - not to be risked at all in terms of handling. Most synos are ok but a spine prick can be painful & need attention of some sort - synos do indeed have teeth, check out the pic of polli in cat-e-log

[Carp37]

synos do indeed have teeth, check out the pic of polli in cat-e-log

Yup, thanks Richard- my mistake!

[Chrysichthys]

Poor Steve Irwin.

Steve Irwin's death surprised me. I know a stab by a stingray is very painful, but it isn't normally fatal, is it? It's not like being bitten by a cobra.

[andywoolloo]

I think if I remember right it just happened to puncture him in the chest. Unknown if it penetrated his heart. Bad luck.

Yeah I have seen pics of the eupterus teeth, they have quite a few! They seem to have alot anyways.