Syno Angelicus... have we made a terrible mistake?

[Hap44]

Hi, long time listener, first time caller...

Long story short, I have a 180 gallon aquarium ready to receive a lot of mbuna in the 1inch range from a well known seller. My wife had been paying attention to my intended fish list and knew I wanted some synos to go into the tank, so valentines day she surprised me with a fully grown S angelicus that she had added to the tank without my knowledge (it had just been handed in at petco for credit by previous owner, she got it for $15!)...

Recovering this (very beautiful if slightly scarred) cat from the rockwork would be a very major undertaking. So my question is this, just how predatory is it liable to be? The synos strike me as more opportunistic scavengers than forward-barbel cats like pictus or clarias? Is he (she) liable to devour my mbuna juveniles when they arrive?

If I keep it well fed with sinking veggie wafers, NLS sinking cichlid pellets etc, it's going to be disinclined to snack on mbuna, right?

Or am I being woefully optimistic and need to rehome this fish pronto?

[bekateen]

That's a great deal, but if it's coming from Petco, my first thought is quarantine to avoid potential for disease spreading to others in the tank.

Good luck, Eric

[Hap44]

It's fins didn't touch their tanks, apparently. My wife was buying treats for the dog when saw the commotion this big fish was causing and the guy was in the process of filing in 'surrender papers' when my wife wandered over and made him an offer, he was going to give her the fish for free but she felt bad and gave him some money... The fish has some old bumps and scrapes, as old synos tend to, but is otherwise in excellent condition, I'm monitoring it closely for a month or so before adding the cichlids, he has a while as I want to get clear of snowtime before ordering them. None the less, I've treated with paragard and will continue to be watchful.

But my real question stands, will he try to eat them? I've never considered the bulky riverine synos to be predatory and have kept them in rift lake tanks before without issue, but I've never kept angelicus in the past. Will it eat 1"+ cichlids? It really doesn't seem designed to be an effective hunter, yet I read conflicting information online.

[Viktor Jarikov]

IMHO, it is unlikely but not impossible. So it's a gamble. I'd not take it.

Could consider a tank divider or some such. Or try trapping the syno to remove it. Or give it a nice removable hidey hole / trap. I remember reading lots of creative ways to get a hold of a fish other than swinging one's net. On PCF and MFK. Try a search.

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've had a Synodontis angelicus for ~10 months now, bought at auction at ~12cm SL or so, so not that long.

The smallest fish that lives in the same tank is my male Empire Gudgeon, who is ~7cm SL and ~3cm deep. Absolutely no issues at all and the gudgeon often skulks around at the tank base level.

Other fish in the same 6-foot tank...
1x ~22cm SL "mystery" Distichodus (possibly D. rostratus)
6x ~10-16cm SL Distichodus altus/affinis (youngest two were ~7cm SL when S. angelicus introduced)
3x ~11-14cm SL Ctenopoma acutirostre
1x ~15cm SL Xenomytus nigri
1x ~11cm SL Synodontis schoutedeni
4x ~10-15cm SL Euchilichthys spp.
3x ~12-16cm SL Synodontis brichardi
1x ~18cm SL Synodontis cf. budgetti
1x ~22cm SL Synodontis notatus
1x ~30cm SL Auchenoglanis spp. (tchadiensis? stopped growing after rapid growth over 2 years from skinny ~4cm SL baby)


Like my Synodontis cf. budgetti, who came to me because he/she was predating on Kribensis youngsters and adult Neon Tetras, I would not trust my S. angelicus with my batch of Steatocranus youngsters or my group of adult Pareutropius mandevillei.

[pleconut]

I never had a problem with my two Synodontis Eupterus, when kept with small fish, even when they were bigger. Yet there was conflicting information online saying they would eat small fish, it may have been because they grew up from babies alongside the other fish.

[Richard B]

Most large adult synos are 'opportunistic' - in that they might eat small fish although they are not going to actively look to eat them. This includes Angelicus so as mentioned above , it is a gamble. Also, what water conditions do you have. For a rift tank I'd stick with rift synos. Riverine species may do ok but it's not ideal.

[naturalart]

Regardless if it touched Petco water or no, Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine. There are other reasons for quarantine in addition too disease. As Richard B said: Its an 'opportunistic' predator. Small fish will not be off the menu. Echo Richard B's sentiment: Rift biology for Rift water. Would love to see some pics of this $20. S. angelicus.

[Scleropages]

Great deal on the S. angelica. When you say full grown, how big do you mean (TL)? I have a trio in a 125gal. The male is 9" TL and the females are 10" + 11" TL. They are all over 20 years old. I don't think I'd worry about keeping small mbuna with them as long as you have plenty of rocky hiding places for the cichlids. Have you ever seen mbuna fry in a tank full of adults? Many of them never get eaten and eventually grow to adult size as well. As long as you keep the S. angelica well fed, I doubt it will actively hunt the mbuna. Let us know how it works out.

[Reteos]

as someone who has had baby mbuna many times I can say that those guys will always find a way to survive, they are masters of hiding and are a lot quicker than the syno would give them credit for. I find it unlikely that he would eat a lot of them But I`ve never kept angelicus.