C-ichlid fry and Synodontis

[24tropheus]

At what size are c-ichlid fry safe from predation by adult Synodontis lucipinnis and eupterus?

Is there another Syno that will eat less c-ichlid mouthbrooder fry or leave the fry alone at a smaller size?

[MatsP]

I have no specific information on the species you ask about, but generally, the only safe size is where they (clearly) no longer fit in the mouth of the potential predator. I doubt that different species are much different in what they will and won't eat, other than the individuals size of course (small fish -> small mouth -> safe with smaller fish).

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Mats

[Birger]

Is there another Syno that will eat less c-ichlid mouthbrooder fry or leave the fry alone at a smaller size?

I personally found S. lucipinnis to be quite safe with cichlid fry, for a while I kept some young adults in the same tank I would let the cichlids drop their fry into, and found I did not have to worry about predation at all.Maybe with a fully grown male there would be a worry but they seemed quite safe.

Eupterus on the other hand I am sure would love the treat.

I have not tried it with other syno's but most I would think are opportunistic feeders and would enjoy the treat as well, the lucipinnis by some quirk of nature would be the exception.

Birger

[Richard B]

I suspected lucipinnis would be ok, (& perhaps Syno.Sp2?)

There are perhaps others but they're not lake synos & may not be good tankmates with your fish (being a bit delicate themselves: contractus, nigriventis, robertsi, batesi, maybe & microsynodontis & mochokiella)

[Birger]

microsynodontis

I can not say for the others but my microsyno's would not be trusted with new fry at night, they might be small but have the same opportunistic tendency larger synodontis have, they already have learned to raid the caves of A. claro and hassle the fry, and cichlid fry being smaller would be in more danger.

Birger

[zenyfish]

I have no doubt lucipinnis or nigriventris will eat fry. I suspect most Synodontis would not be OK.

[sidguppy]

this particular topic is a perfect example why I always keep on hammering about the fact that you can have showtanks and breeding tanks, but not both in one.

yes, the occasional fry will survive in many showtanks.

but if you REALLY want to breed fish, you should set up a breeding tank or at the least a decent holding tank for a mouthbreeding fish where she can release the fry at her own leisure.
catfish have NO business in a breeding tank, uless ofcourse it's that catfish that should breed.

want fishfry? set up 2 tanks. it's really that simple.

[MatsP]

this particular topic is a perfect example why I always keep on hammering about the fact that you can have showtanks and breeding tanks, but not both in one.

Indeed - I wholly support this concept. You can of course do things like partitions, breeding nets, and other contraptions to mechanically separate fry from fry predators.

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Mats

[24tropheus]

Thanks for the answers guys.
So far for me, I have lucipinnis in with Troph and gobies.

Most (all but one WC) of my Troph in this tank were bred in a tank with lucipinnis in there by another guy.

Ideal runt removal service?

For serious breeding of the Troph then I guess I would remove them.

I wondered about replacing them (the lucipinnis) with something else but it seems I have the least fry hunter which is happy in this tank?

[DJRansome]

FWIW, when I had only Lucipinnis with my cichlids, I had lots of survivor fry...too many. Now that I have added Multipunctatus, the survivors have declined significantly.