which synodontis?

[november]

after many years of keeping cichlids of lake tanganyika i think it's time for cat's now.
after i've looked around a little i wonder wich one is suitable for my tank.

the tank is 1,6 mtr's wide but contains over 700 ltr's and the syno's will be the main inhabitants.
the plan is to keep 5 to 7 cat's so it has to be a tolerant specie.

the tank wil be stuffed with lots of driftwood,some artificial rocks and a few plants without taking away te room to swim around.

the ones caught my eye are:
S.alberti of wich i've read different storys about their tolerance.
S.aterrima.not the biggest one but a very nice coloration.
S.batensoda.a beauty and peacefull as well! my fafourite.
S.notata same as above.lovely fish.
S.ornatissima , resupinata and rufigiensis are lovely too.

if i could get my hands on anyone of these,you guys think i might have a green light.

thanks in advance

[racoll]

I would say in that tank you could keep a group of pretty much any riverine syno you like. You would want to remove the driftwood to keep lake species though.

Others may have more direct experience of how groups of larger, more aggressive synos interact, however.

Sounds like a great tank!

[november]

after 20 years of tanganyican rock tanks i would like to see something else,driftwood and a little green stuff

lake related species are nice,i've kept the smal syno's (multipunctatus,petricola,lucipinnis) , lophiobagrus brevispinnis and a few times even baby auchenoglanus (untill the've reached too much in length).

claria's would be nice but very hard to find b.t.w.

my tank now by the way,fih are for sale on a dutch forum.http://www.ciliata.nl/vivarium_van_de_m ... _cover.htm

[Birger]

after 20 years of tanganyican rock tanks i would like to see something else,driftwood and a little green stuff

Understandable

the ones caught my eye are:
S.alberti of wich i've read different storys about their tolerance.
S.aterrima.not the biggest one but a very nice coloration.
S.batensoda.a beauty and peacefull as well! my fafourite.
S.notata same as above.lovely fish.
S.ornatissima , resupinata and rufigiensis are lovely too.

I have had no problems with my alberti but I find them very reclusive most of the time.

Keep in mind some of the

Synodontis aterrima

in the Cat-eLog are hybrids(and will be changed), but if you can get proper aterrima I would go with a big a group as possible and add other small congo syno's such as a schoal of nigriventris.

Brachysynodontis batensoda

and

Synodontis resupinata

are similar and recently many that thought they had batensoda have in fact resupinata, but regardless it would be cool to have a few of these, again, along with a large schoal of

Synodontis nigriventris

...surface feed them and you would have an all upside down swimming tank...that would be different and quite impressive, even though from different areas.

True

Synodontis ornatissima

and

Synodontis rufigiensis

may both be difficult to obtain, a trick for this is to look at the number of keepers here at PC, both these species have no keepers registered.

Birger

[Richard B]

Notata & Alberti would be most available but Alberti would be easiest to keep in a group without problems (from the species you list). You might also want to consider brichardi, pleurops, congica, schoutedeni or decorus.....

[exasperatus2002]

If you have the funds, a group of Synodontis pardalis ( http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/_s ... es_id=1879 would be great. I know shipments of them have been trickling in, here in the US. Europe usually has a better selection or atleast a different selection then what I see here in the states. So Im "assuming" they should be available. They usually sell at 6-7 inches long for $120 US.

[Marc van Arc]

It is worth the time to visit Oliver Frank; see his stocklist (page 4). Quite a few Synos you may like.

http://www.tanganyika.de/download/OFSto ... 022012.pdf

I understood members of the Ducth Cichlid Forum go there sometimes, so perhaps you can join them on a visit?

In the Netherlands, Utaka currently stocks 9 different species.

[november]

thank for helping me out again.

i think i've got enough to work on.

suggested cat's will be visited searching the web.


cas.

[Phyllonemus]

Hi Casper, just spoke to you and I wish you welcome to the planet of Catfish.
I've also send you a PM.

Greets, Riny

[Scleropages]

I maintained a group of 6 S. alberti in a riverine-style 125gal tank for quite some time. They were thriving until the tank sprung a leak and they all died one night in the container I was temporarily housing them in while waiting for my tank to be replaced under warranty. I made a thread about it here on PC. As Birger stated, they are quite reclusive, but mine became very active during feeding time and when the lights were out (I would use a red light to observe them then).

[november]

maybe annoying but here's another question.

i guess the rheofile species won't combine with plants of which i find very important in the upcoming set-up (even though, there come some nice fitting tankmates in "rheofile")

the suggested Synodontis nigrivenris might be the one to go for but is with it's 10 cm's a little too small,16 to 20 cm's would be so much more impressive.........

any other fitting synodontis' from that same low current area?

i'd like to add a mormyrid too btw

[Birger]

Okay, going by what is available on the link which Marc supplied above..no use looking at what you can not get.

Synodontis flavitaeniatus

is one of my favourites that are nice in a group, not often you see orange/red in a Synodontis.The pictures in the Cat-eLog do not do them justice as far as color goes.

Synodontis schoutedeni

is another decent one, nice colors...sometimes the males can be a little crazy or unpredictable but the females are perfect ladies.

Both are often available and seem to be on the list above.
you could have a group of each.

Birger

[racoll]

november, are you confusing "riverine" with "rheophile"?

Despite being riverine (lives in rivers), I don't think many of the species in the trade (

Synodontis brichardi

excluded), require heavy current (i.e. rheophile). Therefore, water movement from a decent sized external/canister filter would be fine. Plants would be no problem either.

Synodontis flavitaeniata

are indeed gorgeous, and quite cheap these days. I think they would be perfect.

[november]

okay,that'll make things a whole lot easier to combine then.

more than expected i found quite a few diferent syno's.

suggested fish and tip's will be concidered and with a little luck i will soon be a brand new cat keeper

thanks to all of you!

cas.

[november]

it's been a while but i had to tell what fish eventually came my way.

5 s.decora
4 s.alberti
7 s. flavitaeniata

all fish are 6 to 15 cm

unfortunately the decoras might have to leave due to feeding competition with the quite shy alberti i just got last night. time will tell.

once again: thanks for your advise.

cas.