Syno Granulosa...What a Shame

[unblinded]

So, I've been reluctant to post this. I lost one of the 3 new Synodontis Granulosa I got on Monday. It's a shame. The shipper did a great job but this one just didn't handle the shipping well & the fact that it was getting harassed by one of my other Granulosa for the 1st day didn't help. I did put a tank divider in on the 2nd day but she was on her way out the door. On a good note, the other 2 are doing great. The one that passed was the biggest I've ever seen, she was close to 9 inches long. That's the 2nd one I lost this year. The other I had for a year & some kids took liberties with the tank I had her in and she jumped out. My wife is a saint to have let me purchased the 1st one, not to mention the other 4. I promise not to kill any more this year. There's too few of these in the hobby to be losing any.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Sorry to hear. Is this loss covered by the seller's quarantee?

IMHO the only people who never lost a fish are the ones that never kept even one fish and those who never lost many fish never tried keeping many.

[toby]

It's always tough when this happens and I can appreciate what you are going through. Prize fish, you're pumped and bad luck happens. I had the same thing occur last year with some other synos and remember it all too well. Good luck with your remaining fish - you've been patient finding them I am sure and that same patience will pay off in keeping them healthy and acclimating them for many long years of enjoyment. Keep us posted on their progress from time to time.

[unblinded]

I was just sitting here at work & thinking this exact thing "the only people who never lost a fish are the ones that never kept even one fish and those who never lost many fish never tried keeping many." It still breaks my heart every time I lose one. As far as warranty, I wouldn't even ask in this instance. I carry some of the blame for not keeping her separated from the other grannies. There have been many posts on this forum regarding keeping grannies together. I'm just hard headed. I've learned 2 lessons the hard way. 1. Never keep these guys in a tank without a top & 2. If you don't have time to sit & watch them for hours to see how they are interacting it is never a good idea to leave them together in the same tank. I kept 2 in a 350 gallon tank full of lava rock last year for about 10 months and 1 was always targeting the other. One thing I did learn from keeping those together is that it seems they react to some scent. The reason I theorize this is because when the one who was inferior in the pecking order would hide (in plain view), right next to the high pressure pump outlet, the other granny would pass right by him without chasing him. And you could tell she was stalking him but every time she would make a loop around the lava rock pile, pass within 2 inches of his face and make the loop again looking for him. Interesting stuff.

[unblinded]

Just an update. It turns out the aggressor was not my male but the other new female that took out the larger female. It was hard to differentiate between the males/females when I first put them in the tank, however after studying photos & video, I figured out which was which. The 3 I have are all top quality & beautiful, but, living separately. When I get my 300 gallon tank resealed I'll try them together in it. I played the shell game with them for a while keeping them in 2 sides of my 125 gallon tank but one kept getting chewed on no matter how I split them up. Sigh, too bad they're not more like Grandiops or Multipunctata.

[Richard B]

It would appear from information in threads that females are the more aggressive of the sexes with Granulosa.

My three are kept together without much problem in what would probably be considered a small tank. There is a clearly a pecking order and the dominant big female has been really nasty on a couple of occasions but in the last few years there has been nothing really to report. I do keep a close eye on things though. The way i've got round this is to cram the tank with rockwork/pots/pipes which occupy 50% of the tank volume so there are masses of hiding spots where 'line of sight' can be broken. Additionally stocking is heavy with a mix of most of the tanganyikan synos plus njassae & has masses of filtration to compensate for the stocking. Similar to how mbuna are kept kind of thing. I think the trick is to find what works for you but have back up options available.

[unblinded]

Thanks Richard. I had a male & female together in exactly the setup you described for almost a year before I noticed a bacterial infection in one of the eyes of my male Granulosa & removed him. He would hand feed so I just scooped him out with my hand when I noticed the cloudy eye. Thank goodness he was hand tamed. I had 400 lbs of lava rock in that 300 gallon tank and never would have been able to catch him without removing the rock if he was not.