Catfish community

[josh7]

Well I honestly did not know where to post this but I want as many catfish as I can,have in a 75,gallon preferably like 3 to 5 larger syno cats would that work?

[Mol_PMB]

So, tell us a bit more about your water (hard/soft etc), your tank scape (substrate/rocks/wood/plants etc), your flow and filtration and any other fish in the tank or planned for it. Also, are there any Synos that have particularly caught your eye?

I should add that I have kept a number of Synos but personally I found them unrewarding. Mine hid 99.99% of the time to the extent that I didn't know if they were still alive (they were, and I sold the last ones today after stripping the tank down to find them). So a tank based mainly on Synos might not be a very entertaining option. This is where the other species planned become important.

Others may have different experiences, of course

[josh7]

Well ok the filters are 2 emperor 400a and currently I have 0 ideas on other fish it's a sand bottom it will have plenty of caves and I currently have a featured in who will be moving into my 125 in June when I get it he is An Amazing fish constantly out and about looking for food and honestly idk what I want I just want catfish I love them lol. Perhaps a single giant upside down catfish would do good? And the only syno cat I have really saw at a reasonable price is a syno zebra hybrid catfish or a clown syno.

[bekateen]

I currently have a featured in who will be moving into my 125 in June when I get it

I presume you mean "feather fin." Sometimes autocorrect and word completion are not our friends.

Cheers, Eric

[josh7]

Yes featherfin damn it I hate autocorrect!

[VelcroWY]

Not a cat, but a Morymid would go well with a group of synos

[josh7]

hey everyone sorry I have been bad at replying,but I have an,idea of a potential stock for the 75 gallon tell me,your thoughts I have 2 ideas on mind. I k,ow I might have to many bottom feeders but I love catfish haha!
Option 1
5 Upside down catfish
4 pygmy leopard catfish
3 pictus catfish
1 angelfish school of 10 tetras not sure what kind yet

Option 2
5 upside down catfish
1pygmy leopard catfish
1 clown catfish
1 angelfish
10 tetras of some type any thoughts?

[josh7]

What are you talking about ?

[Richard B]

Not a cat, but a Morymid would go well with a group of synos

Not sure any Morymid would do well with larger synos - they really are for specialised tanks only

[Richard B]

I have an,idea of a potential stock for the 75 gallon tell me,your thoughts I have 2 ideas on mind. I k,ow I might have to many bottom feeders but I love catfish haha!
Option 1
5 Upside down catfish - what species?
4 pygmy leopard catfish - what species?
3 pictus catfish - really need a bigger group
1 angelfish school of 10 tetras not sure what kind yet - a lone angelfish isn't great, a school of tetras would be better

Option 2
5 upside down catfish
1pygmy leopard catfish - one isn't a great number
1 clown catfish - one isn't a great number, if this is S.Decorus they are generally a highly sociable species
1 angelfish
10 tetras of some type any thoughts?

Have you thought about an African themed tank? A group of riverine synos? maybe a shoal of congo tetras an odd distichodus, maybe a few

Notoglanidium macrostoma

?

[pleconut]

Richard B mentioned the angelfish, and the pictus liking to be in bigger groups. Pictus cats are continually active, and angelfish would become stressed by the constant activity. I think the synos seem a good choice.

[josh7]

Ok,how about,this idea then!
6 synodontis nigreventis (upside down catfish)
7 synodontis Petricola (false cuckoo catfish)
1 Bristlenose Pleco
4 pictus catfish
7 marbled hatchet fish
2 angelfish would this work or to much fish?

[pleconut]

Again not sure angelfish and pictus would go active tetras are a better option. Not sure also that you'd see much of the synos.

[pleconut]

It would need to be larger tetras, pictus cats would eat small tetras such as neons.

[josh7]

Ok I feel like in large numbers with tons of caves and wooden snags the synos will be an active fish I have heard they can,become,active anyway especially in a low light tank. Also my featherfin is super active anyways. Next if the angelfish Wont work any ideas for a nice,sized,centerpiece,fish?

[Bas Pels]

Ok,how about,this idea then!
6 synodontis nigreventis (upside down catfish)
7 synodontis Petricola (false cuckoo catfish)
1 Bristlenose Pleco
4 pictus catfish
7 marbled hatchet fish
2 angelfish would this work or to much fish?

As the S petricola comes from LAke Tanganjica, with hard water, and the other fish will need soft water, this is a bad combination.

Further 2 angelfish is not a good idea, one better keeps them in a group of more then 6, and these need a quiet tank, which the P iictus will not provide - these are far too active for angelfish.

Why not a Congo river theme? Or all from South America?

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Ok,how about,this idea then!
7 synodontis Petricola (false cuckoo catfish) ..........7 marbled hatchet fish

Marbled Hatchetfish (

Carnegiella strigata

) need soft, acid water and

Synodontis petricola

is Lake Tanganyikan fish from high pH, carbonate rich, alkaline water, they are just totally incompatible in water terms.

cheers Darrel

[Mol_PMB]

If you wanted another group of smaller synos compatible with soft water, how about S.flavitaeniatus?

[josh7]

Ok I will lose the angelfish and hatchets what type of larger centerpiece fish would work?

[Mol_PMB]

Do you have hard or soft water? If you don't have a KH or GH test kit, you can normally look it up on your water supplier's website.

[josh7]

It's a bit hard my ph is 8 to 8.2

[Mol_PMB]

In that case, you would be better off going for the fish that like hard water. Most South American species will not thrive in water that hard.

You can search the cat-e-log with a pH range to identify suitable fish. It's best to order by 'keepers' and then you will get the more popular ones first.

[N0body Of The Goat]

What are the dimensions of this 75 (US?) gallon tank?
What gH hardness do you mean by "a bit hard?" Hardness does not always go hand-in-hand with pH, for example you can get soft, alkaline water

In some respects, it is a little shame that you have a Synodontis eupterus already that new fish have to work with. In a suitable sized tank, depending upon the hardness of your water, you could do something like...
25+ Pareutropius spp.
12+ Synodontis nigriventris
10+ Synodontis flavitaeniatus

Now I've never owned a Syndontis eupterus, the closest Mochokidae I have in my collection to one is my adopted syno called Troy, who I think is a ~18cm SL Synodontis budgetti. I have 25 adult Pareutropius mandevillei and 11 adult Synodontis nigriventris, but they have never shared a tank with Troy, the two smaller species live in one of my 120cm long tanks and Troy lives in my 181cm tank. I don't think I would ever want to try combining them, because Troy came to me after eating adult Neon tetras and reasonable size juvenile Kribs. I expect Troy would try to eat the Pareutropius and would scare the group to death regardless, while I think Troy would be too aggressive for the S. nigriventris.

For a suitable sized tank including a Featherfin (150+ cm long in my opinion), I would be more inclined to go with something like...
12+ Congo Tetras
1x Synodontis eupterus
5+ Synodontis brichardi
1x Synodontis angelicus?

[josh7]

What no the featherfin is going into a 125 gallon yes us gallons. He has lived in my 75 how whole life and will be moved to a 125 in June to live with an Oscar and 7 silver dollars. I don't know why you think its a shame I own one he is very healthy is 7 inches and far and full of energy in all aspects a well taken care of fish. The 75 gallon tank dimensions are 4 foot by 18 inches by 21 inches.

[N0body Of The Goat]

What no the featherfin is going into a 125 gallon yes us gallons. He has lived in my 75 how whole life and will be moved to a 125 in June to live with an Oscar and 7 silver dollars. I don't know why you think its a shame I own one he is very healthy is 7 inches and far and full of energy in all aspects a well taken care of fish. The 75 gallon tank dimensions are 4 foot by 18 inches by 21 inches.

All I meant by saying it was a little bit of a shame, was that you have to build a suitable community up around the Featherfin, without it being present you could create a community that was all catfish alone from the Congo river system which would inhabit pretty much all levels of the tank. You could then safely use a midwater species instead of tetras, such as Congo Tetras.

Pareutropius spp. are midwater; schooling; diurnal catfish. Here's an old clip of my 25 Pareutropius mandevillei, they were ordered for me from Neil Hardy Aquatics, albeit we expected the far more P. buffei to arrive...



Fully grown now, these catfish are the smallest known members of the genus at ~5cm SL, with extreme tapering of their body girth behind the pectoral fin. That is why I would be wary of mixing a big social group, which they need, with a Featherfin.

Maybe a similar sized group of Pareutropius debauwi might work, they reach about double the length, but I've never seen fully grown adults to look at their body girth.

The diversity of African fish, especially catfish, has fascinated me since I started the hobby. I have specimens ranging from ~4.5cm Microsynodontis sp.1s to a ~30cm SL Auchenoglanis spp., but only certain combos can safely be put together. ~3.5 years ago I bought a ~3cm SL Chrysichthys ornatus, who grew up in a community of moderate to large fish, but almost a year to the day my nerves got the better of me. This predator was now ~21cm SL, with a mouth gape of ~6cm diameter, quite capable of eating my Euchilichthys spp.; Synodontis brichardi; Synodontis schoutedeni etc. so I felt the need to isolate the predator in its own tank just before a holiday.