World's Largest Synodontis Catfish in Captivity

[Thursty]

Well yeah maybe it's just a joke but I don't have any evidence to suggest otherwise concerning my Synodontis acanthomias.
I think mine is bigger than any of the ones pictured on the species page here including the one pictured from the fish market in Kisanghani. If that ruler in the picture is metric then yes, mine is a lot bigger.
It's not a very good video and it's not that good at showing how big the fish is, I was just playing around with the camera and youtube but see what you think.
http://youtu.be/eNew69fmszg

[James.feenan]

What are the fish in this tank and what size is your tank? What size is he?

[Viktor Jarikov]

Welcome to the Planet. Nice looking syno you got there!

I have not found a number for your fish anywhere: do you have a number? Yes, that is a metric ruler on that pic of ~1' long

Synodontis acanthomias

. The max size is ~20" SL (note, not TL).

If you provide a picture of your fish next to a ruler/measure tape and the ID is confirmed, and yours is bigger than the current listed max, I am sure Planet Catfish officials will change the max and perhaps use your photo with a ruler on the data/care sheet.

[Birger]

Give it time, I have no doubt your acanthomias will get big but to me it looks like it is just starting to mature.

I have seen pictures of others that came in to North America in the last year and they all seem to be developing about the same, could be interesting in the future.

Maybe we will hear from @DaveRinaldo and @corybreed how theirs are doing. I think corybreed has his in a very large tank.

Birger

[Thursty]

Welcome to the Planet. Nice looking syno you got there!

I have not found a number for your fish anywhere: do you have a number? Yes, that is a metric ruler on that pic of ~1' long

Synodontis acanthomias

. The max size is ~20" SL (note, not TL).

If you provide a picture of your fish next to a ruler/measure tape and the ID is confirmed, and yours is bigger than the current listed max, I am sure Planet Catfish officials will change the max and perhaps use your photo with a ruler on the data/care sheet.

What do you mean by number? As in identification number, like C number for corys and L numbers for Loricarids? I wasn't aware of a number system for Synodontis cats. It came in as S. acanthomias and it sure conforms to it, I don't think the identity is all that questionable.

I hate to get that fish out and put it next to a ruler but I can tell you that the SL is very close to 20", I know the TL is something over 20" but I don't know exactly; probably not worth making a change to the web site.

The tank in the video is a 125 (6' long) the fish with it are some misc. Mbuna cichlids at various stages of maturity but also some Nibochromis venusta which are are 6-7".

[Thursty]

Give it time, I have no doubt your acanthomias will get big but to me it looks like it is just starting to mature.

I have seen pictures of others that came in to North America in the last year and they all seem to be developing about the same, could be interesting in the future.

Maybe we will hear from @DaveRinaldo and @corybreed how theirs are doing. I think corybreed has his in a large tank.

Birger

OK, so the video isn't getting the size across as well as I hoped. That fish is over 8 years old and over 20" long.

[Birger]

That is a good size then, how long have you had it?

Birger

[Birger]

Yeah it actually does not look that big in the video...but I will believe you, I would not want to have to pull it out for no real reason either, would be a brute.

Sorry, I also in my mind am getting the

Synodontis longirostris

that came in this year mixed up with these, you will have some competition soon for large size when they begin to get big.
Birger

[Thursty]

That is a good size then, how long have you had it?

Birger

I wrote before over 8 years old but then I got to thinking that this is 2013 isn't it (Tempus fugit)? So I had to think back to when I got it, seems that it was around fall of 2003 so that means I've had it more like 9 years.

[corybreed]

Nice video of the acanthomias. I really couldn't tell how large it is. If it is 20 inches that's impressive. I purchased one last year, it was mixed up with some longirostris which I brought home as well. My acanthomias is now about 12 inches in length. I am keeping it in a tank with some small batensoda. He chases them away from his home under a large piece of bog wood. Utherwise he leaves them alone. I tried keeping the acanthomias with one of the longirostris in a six foot tank. If I didn't remove it soon after it would have been a fight to the death. Not sure who would have been the victor. Both species are very tough.

Mark

[Thursty]

Nice video of the acanthomias. I really couldn't tell how large it is. If it is 20 inches that's impressive. I purchased one last year, it was mixed up with some longirostris which I brought home as well. My acanthomias is now about 12 inches in length. I am keeping it in a tank with some small batensoda. He chases them away from his home under a large piece of bog wood. Utherwise he leaves them alone. I tried keeping the acanthomias with one of the longirostris in a six foot tank. If I didn't remove it soon after it would have been a fight to the death. Not sure who would have been the victor. Both species are very tough.

Mark

Mine doesn't seem to be that aggressive. There are some S. multipunctatus in there with it and I think they're too small for it to bother with. I keep thinking I should move it to a tank that is more in line with the kind of water conditions that it comes from but I never manage to get the job done, however if I did there would almost certainly be other Synodontis in the tank I moved it to, some of them pretty big but not in that category. I have a S. decorus that is about 10" and a total wimp who lives with a S. angelicus that is (believe it or not) also about 10" who is a big bully. The S. angelicus would probably get along with the S. ancanthomias OK, just in the sense that they are both tough enough to keep each other in line. I've got some pretty big S. ocellifers too that might be able to live with him.

[Birger]

The S. angelicus would probably get along with the S. ancanthomias OK, just in the sense that they are both tough enough to keep each other in line.

The other thing that happens is when neither one backs down one ends up dead.

and I think they're too small for it to bother with.

I am a believer that mixing sizes for this reason is a good way to go, you still get more than just having a couple big synos in a tank and shows a nice contrast.

Birger

[Viktor Jarikov]

T: What do you mean by number?
VJ: Sorry, too curt. The topic at hand: size.

T: I hate to get that fish out and put it next to a ruler but I can tell you that the SL is very close to 20", I know the TL is something over 20" but I don't know exactly; probably not worth making a change to the web site.
VJ: Right, pulling it out was not what I had in mind (unless re-homing). Rather a good in-tank shot with the fish by the glass and a ruler on the outside of the glass.

T: The tank in the video is a 125 (6' long) the fish with it are some misc. Mbuna cichlids at various stages of maturity but also some Nibochromis venusta which are are 6-7".
VJ: 125 long is 6' long and 17" wide on the inside. Is your syno having problems swimming and turning around?

[Thursty]

T: The tank in the video is a 125 (6' long) the fish with it are some misc. Mbuna cichlids at various stages of maturity but also some Nibochromis venusta which are are 6-7".
VJ: 125 long is 6' long and 17" wide on the inside. Is your syno having problems swimming and turning around?

I got to thinking about that late last night (before seeing your post) and I realized that it doesn't turn on the horizontal. It turns on the vertical; meaning it swims up the side of the glass and turns back down then goes in the desired direction. It doesn't even have much room to do that. When it is touching the surface there is still tail touching the gravel. I think I have seen it in position of head to front and tail to back and I mean touching the glass at each end but that was at a head up angle so yeah it is longer than the tank is front to back.

To me it is noteworthy that no one has joined in and said "Nope, I've got one bigger."

[Viktor Jarikov]

Do you think he is doing ok or he needs/would benefit a bigger tank?

Yeah, I am quite curious to see if anyone else comes out. I'd thoroughy enjoy if people started posting big syno pics here too I don't mean 1' euptera but rare and special lunkers like yours

[Richard B]

I haven't seen or heard of anything this size in captivity. The biggest acanthomias I've seen was 18" TL.
Very few people have tanks big enough & some species like longirostris seem to fail to reach max size in captivity.
I wonder if arapaimag has any big synos in his 19k or 52k gallon tanks???

[Birger]

I haven't seen or heard of anything this size in captivity. The biggest acanthomias I've seen was 18" TL.
Very few people have tanks big enough & some species like longirostris seem to fail to reach max size in captivity.
I wonder if arapaimag has any big synos in his 19k or 52k gallon tanks???

I personally have not seen any syno this size either...I was thinking of arapaimag as well, on his MyCats list the biggest of the Mochokidae that he shows I imagine is the 25 yr old

Synodontis budgetti

Birger

[Thursty]

Do you think he is doing ok or he needs/would benefit a bigger tank?

Yeah, I am quite curious to see if anyone else comes out. I'd thoroughy enjoy if people started posting big syno pics here too I don't mean 1' euptera but rare and special lunkers like yours

I always think all fish would benefit from a bigger tank (I keep cardinal tetras in a 125 as well). I've got another 125 sitting on a stand in my TV room waiting to be set up with a big wet/dry-Lifeguard module powered by a little giant 5md pump that I've been wondering what I'd put in it and maybe the ancanthomias might be the primary resident of that tank with maybe one or two other fish that would be no larger than about 15".

[Thursty]

I personally have not seen any syno this size either...I was thinking of arapaimag as well, on his MyCats list the biggest of the Mochokidae that he shows I imagine is the 25 yr old

Synodontis budgetti

Thanks for that, as S. budgetti might be the identity of the largest Synodontis I had ever seen prior to my acanthomias. About 35-40 years ago I was traveling somewhere in the mid-west and I was at a mall that had a store that wasn't a pet store but sort of a gift/antique store; they had a big U shaped (viewed from above) tank up at the front of the store as sort of an attention drawing gimmick. I don't know but this tank probably held something like 500-700 gallons. It had a Synodontis cat that was probably a little over a foot long, nondescript brown fish. One odd thing about it was that it didn't hide but was fairly active. When it went out into the open water it would turn upside-down; not so much like a batensota but still it seemed to like to go belly up now and then. My memory is too vague to be able to identify what that one was for sure but seems that budgetti might be a candidate.