Catfish & C ichlids?

[JoJo3131]

Are there any catfish that are tough enough to be in a tank with Malawi Lake C ichlids? I have cory's in my community tanks, and I find them to be a lot of fun to watch. I wouldn't want anything real large, since most of my c ichlids are around 4 - 6 inches when full grown.

[Richard B]

People keep

Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus

the common bristlenose with malawis to help with algae & they get on fine.

Synodontis njassae

is a real beauty & comes from malawi so is ideal , but you could put in any Tanganyikan synos too

[MatsP]

And for sure, do NOT put corydoras or similar in with the cichlids - it will NOT work.

S. njassae is perhaps not very easy to find, it may be easier to find Lake Tanganyika species, such as

Synodontis lucipinnis

(quite often sold as

Synodontis petricola

) or

Synodontis multipunctatus

(note that the latter is a "cuckoo spawner", meaning that it will spawn with the Cichlids, and the catfish fry will hatch in the mouth of the cichlid and eat any of the cichlid eggs/fry in the mouth of the female. Interesting behaviour, but not good if you like to breed your cichlids. S. lucipinnis (and it's close relative "True Petricola") do not have this form of parasitic brood-care.

--
Mats

[JoJo3131]

People keep

Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus

the common bristlenose with malawis to help with algae & they get on fine.

Synodontis njassae

is a real beauty & comes from malawi so is ideal , but you could put in any Tanganyikan synos too

Are Synodontis njassae like cory's, they need to have buddies in the tank? If so, how many of them would I need to make them happy campers? I am more interested in catfish then I am plecos.

[MatsP]

According to sidguppy's post in this thread: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =8&t=24857 (about 6th or 7th post, from memory) they prefer to be in a group. The same applies to S. lucipinnis and S. multipunctatus.

Also bear in mind that some not so ethical breeders (in the Czech republic for example) are mixing up different forms of Synos and creating hybrids, so it is a good idea to take a CAREFUL look at the fish you are buying. No one knows much about how the hybrids behave in the longer term, because they haven't been around for THAT long.

--
Mats

[JoJo3131]

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. Is the US importing from these areas? I thought most of the fish that we would get here would be from within the states?

[MatsP]

S. lucipinnis and the other Tanganyika species should be possible to find. S. njassae is very rare in general, no matter where in the world you look. As mentioned in the other thread, Dave's rare fish in San Antonio MAY be a place that you could try - but no guarantees.

Note also that there are other catfish in at least Lake Tanganyika that are reasonable to keep in a Malawi tank.

--
Mats

[JoJo3131]

Thanks, I will be looking for some of these varieties and reading up on them in the meantime. I have a couple really good LFS in the Boise area that we found the last time we were there, just don't go there very often! One had a zillion different fish, all well cared for from the looks of things and many fish I had never seen before. We live 3 hours one way to any fish store (mostly petco & petsmart), but the good ones are at least 4 hours one way to get to them. Basically we live in the middle of nowhere!

As for putting those poor cute little cory's in a c ichlid tank, well that is just NOT going to happen! In fact they might be getting their own tank in the next few months, already working on a 25 high for my Platy's who compete for the cory's pellets (cute but oh so hungry critters!). That's why I was asking if there were any catfish that you could put in a c ichlid tank, besides I'm still not sold on putting any catfish in the c ichlid tank. Time and research will help me decide that one....

[DJRansome]

If your cichlids are 6" when full grown, they are not going to be happy in the 38G tank long term. I have a 38G as well and had Demasoni (dwarf mbuna) in the tank with 3 Lucipinnis. I found I prefer a longer tank for the mbuna...even the dwarf ones.

So if you have dwarf mbuna in the tank, I would agree with a group of Lucipinnis. I have had mine for 3 years now and I also have multipunctatus. Both are great!