A bit gutted... (no, not fish deaths!)

[N0body Of The Goat]

Found a 7"+ Synodontis down my way in Totton mid-week, but resisted asking about buying it at the time to get more clued up on how to identify a true S. notata for congica, nummifer and hybrids.

Well I returned to the store this morning and asked about what they knew of this fish, which I was pretty confident was a true S. notata (2-spot). Apparently it was kept in a small tank and was quite aggressive to a tankmate (S. euptera) before being given to the store, where it has been for over six months, with several 12" plecs. When one of the plecs came into its space this morning, the notata became aggitated, while a Blood Parrot Cichlid was left in piece. The catfish has lost the skin from the final ~1" of one of its pectoral spines, after a netting panick, but otherwise looks in not bad nick.

The price was quite nice too, at £16.

However, given what I was told, I was wary about the consequences if I added it to my 5x2x2 which already holds a ~8" Synodontis decora and ~5" S. brichardi.

Was I right to not entertain buying this catfish and putting him/her in my Rio240 (which holds African Butterfly Fish; Golden Wonder Panchax; Leopard Bushfish; Synodontis nigriventris juveniles; Brochis multiradiatus; Garra flavatra (which might well be moving to 5-footer where there is more current)if things did not work out in the 5x2x2 ?

I so regret not buying a really placid specimen last autumn from another LFS, that came from the same owner as my largest Leopard Bushfish, especially after seeing this wonderful video clip on youtube...

[Birger]

Instead of getting various species in singles, I would reccommend getting more of the fish you have already, you have brichardi which I have found to be very active and social for a riverine syno, I think one of the reasons for being active is having five in the same tank, if I would have one alone it would be much less active IMO.

You also have decorus which for a large syno are social and do well in groups and you have a tank that would show them at their best,I have not kept these but I am quite sure would be fine.

Birger

[Richard B]

Instead of getting various species in singles, I would reccommend getting more of the fish you have already,

I second this suggestion

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks for the input so far.

While I have recently become aware of the social nature of S. decora (I started a thread asking about how my ~8" specimen may react to ~2" specimens at my local Aquajardin, if they are the real deal and not hybrids), I've yet to come across anything that goes as far as to say S. brichardi are of a similar disposition. I'm not calling "lie," I'm simply saying I have not read anything to suggest a social side and I would be grateful if you have links to such literature. As a general observation, profiles of the Synodontis genus on the internet give very little insight to a social side in their character, but more of conspecific and sometimes interspecific aggression.

I must confess I started off with three ~5" S. brichardi late last summer, who apparently had been in the store for well over a year at 26C and very little water movement (I do wonder how this may have affected them negatively). By buying three of the same size, I thought that if the territorial nature I had read about did occur in my 5-foot tank, the aggression would be better spread. Perhaps this was a bad call by me, as I could have bought a 6+ group at the time, albeit my wallet would have screamed in pain! I never witnessed any fights between them, but sadly I lost two of them over the course of about eight months, with no externals signs as to what happened. Their staple diet has been Hikari algae wafers, plus the Tetra Prima offered to the tankmates, with a weekly treat of defrosted bloodworm or alike.

The tank has never knowingly experienced a bacterial colony crash with a minimum temp of 22C; FX5 plus APS2000EF filters; Aqua Medic Nanoprop 5000 powerhead; with 33-75% (the latter gradually over a few days) weekly water changes. As the tank has no live plants, I often wonder about whether nitrates could be an issue, as Southampton tap water comes generously loaded with 40mg/l and I'm tempted to try introducing a genrous bunch of a fast growing floating plant like Canadian Pondweed to help lower the nitrate levels. The other consideration is that perhaps the tap water hardness (kH 11; gH 13/14 degrees) and pH of 8.2 is having a bad effect on these fish.

Funnily enough, I came across a ~4" S. brichardi specimen (very thin looking too) last week at another local store, but I was horrified to see the price tag of £50! Strangely enough, that one stayed at the store...

But in the meantime, I shall try and get across to Aquajardin this week to get another look at those Syno youngsters labelled as S. decora and if in doubt, I will get some footage to try and get a definite ID through this forum.

[Richard B]

The social aspect of a number of synos is impacted on considerably by the artificial, limited volume confines of the aquarium. I think Brichardi is one of these. I.e. if you had 3 or 4 in a 3 foot tank they would show a marked and reasonably consistant amount of aggression to each other. if you put 3 or 4 in a (for example) 6x2x2 (or 8 or 9) the previous behaviour would be noticeably different.

Something like alberti or congica and decora exhibit this far far less.

[Birger]

I've yet to come across anything that goes as far as to say S. brichardi are of a similar disposition. I'm not calling "lie," I'm simply saying I have not read anything to suggest a social side and I would be grateful if you have links to such literature. As a general observation, profiles of the Synodontis genus on the internet give very little insight to a social side in their character, but more of conspecific and sometimes interspecific aggression.

I can only use what info I have picked up on synodontis over the years combined with my personal experience with the groups of Synodontis that I have had.

My five brichardi are in a 72" x 18" x 22", they are with a group of soloni,a few alberti and two female shoutedeni at the moment. I did say they will socialize but this does not mean they will act just like decorus...they will interact with each other, sometimes chasing,sometimes swimming together, darting around much more than the S.soloni which is another rheophilic syno.

As Richard pointed out if I were to keep this same group in a smaller tank there could or most likely would be trouble.I would gladly add more to the group but I would not want it any smaller for the safety of the lower members in the hierarchy.

and pH of 8.2 is having a bad effect on these fish.

Quite possible...but rift Synodontis would do well in your water.

Birger

[senil]

Wow. Those are some real awesome specimens there and I can understand you regretting not buying the catfish!! But frankly, I would also concentrate on buying the species that I already have instead of buying just one of two of different ones!! Would definitely like to see your collection too!!