Synodontis Multipunctatus compatibility with swords/mollies

[skiltrip]

Hello everyone. My first post here.

I have a 29gallon tank that currently houses one 3" cuckoo cat, and one 3" african cichlid. I will be trading in the cichlid to my LFS. I recently had 3 african cichlids that lived together for quite a while, then my last one decided one day that it wanted to be alone and killed the others. In any case, I'm no longer going to try to make a 29gallon work with any cichlids, as it's simply not ideal as I'm sure most of you will agree.

That said, I love my synodontis, and i want to keep him. From what I've read, it seems that swordtails, mollies, etc would be fine and dandy alongside a syno in my tank. and all are comfortable around a ph of 8 which is about where my tank sits.

Would you say this is feasible? Hopefully it is. I want to get my tank back up and running with some nice fish in it for my 6 month old daughter to look at. She loved looking at the fish before they all were killed recently.

[PeterUK]

Synodontis catfish are generally OK with other fish although if there are smaller fish (like fry) that can fit into its mouth ........

I have a 8 inch Syno eruptus in with a wild trio of X. helleri and it doesnt bother them at all.
A few of their fry may go missing but as they have hundreds anyway .......

[skiltrip]

thanks PeterUK. Yeah, i fully expect any and all livebearer fry that are produced to be eaten up unless they are particularly good hiders or something.

I was just curious about temperament,and i'm glad to hear that I shouldn't have to expect problems. After keeping africans for a few years, I'm sort of looking forward to going back to a nice peaceful community style aquarium.

thanks again

[Bas Pels]

As mollie fry generally speaking goes up, en sword fry goes down, you might find some mollie once in a while, but the swords will not have any chance

[Richard B]

This should be fine, but what is the footprint to your tank (length x width). Multi's do enjoy company of their own kind though...

[skiltrip]

it's your standard 29gallon. 30"x12"x18" high. I'd love more multis in there, but I completely can't afford it. I got this multi a few years ago for maybe $30-$40. The prices seem to have shot up. Question though, if I find a smaller/younger Multi, would my current one enjoy the company, or should they ideally be around the same size?

[DJRansome]

I think it would be OK to mix sizes. The reason I say that is my adult multies spawned. Two babies survived. The babies really did not swim with the pack for about the first year, but now they are joining in. The adults did not seem to mind either way.

[featherfinkeeper]

hi there, this is my first post as well. i have a an 80 gallon fish tank with a feather fin catfish which is half a foot and i have mollies, swordtails, clown loaches, etc. other community fish but no small tetras

[Richard B]

Different sizes do mix without too many problems - perhaps someone local to you on PC might have contacts of a breeder where some might be available?

[wrasse]

The trick with mollies is they like warm water, as well as hard alkaline. Around 80 to 82deg. They won't do the 'shimmies' in these conditions. That might be a touch warm for lake fish.
But plenty of people keep them in cooler community tanks and they breed, which is fair enough.

[skiltrip]

The trick with mollies is they like warm water, as well as hard alkaline. Around 80 to 82deg. They won't do the 'shimmies' in these conditions. That might be a touch warm for lake fish.
But plenty of people keep them in cooler community tanks and they breed, which is fair enough.

My tank temp sits right around 79 F. My S. multi has been thriving in that temp for many years, so I think that compromise should work well.

[exasperatus2002]

I have a 55 gallon with Syno. multies in it with mollies & some Haps. the mollies were freebies my neighbor gave me as excess. the haps picked off the smallest ones & any/all fry so I have a group of 8 large black mollies that are now ignored by everyone.







[Mod edit: Fix image tags --Mats]

[ZaldyKhan]

love it!

[sidguppy]

Skilltrip, check your local breeders especially the ones that breed Tanganyikan and Malawi fish, those are likely to breed Synodontis multipunctatus as well

and they're going to be cheaper, 40 bucks for a multi is quite a lot.

btw yes, you can mix sizes, BUT 2 is a bad number. adding a single baby is not good, best add 3 or 4. your tank can hold 5 adfult multi's and a shoal of mollies or swordtails easily.

all these fish like the hard alcalic water.
btw the more livebearers you put in there, the more you'll see your syno's.
they like a crowded tank more than a quiet one.