What is this???????

Christina · Post by **Christina** » 28 Feb 2004, 03:51

Can anyone guess?

I'm sooooooo excited on these babies

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Post by **Birger** » 28 Feb 2004, 04:21

Is this a quiz or are you trying to figure out what they are?

Need more info.

What fish did you have in the tank they came from?

Christina · Post by **Christina** » 28 Feb 2004, 05:12

It's a guess the fish.
I know what they are.
I discoverred them today, and have had my fingers crossed for the last week

I wonderred how many people would actually know these guys as babies.
They are quite unmistakenable as they grow, which doesn't take long.

kwalker · Post by **kwalker** » 28 Feb 2004, 05:19

SYNO MULTIPUNCTATUS"?

Ken

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 28 Feb 2004, 15:15

Yup, definitely.

The regular kind I think; but southern type; northern type larvae are often very dark.

No doubt about Synodontis multipunctatus, though.

To see them this small, you've stripped a holding cichlid mother? They're bigger, spotted and different looking, once they're spat out.

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 29 Feb 2004, 05:35

Christina,
I'll need to get lots and lots of brineshimp nauplii into these fish. I'd say quickly too. They are about as small as I have seen them with them still alive!

A couple of bits of advice. You would/could of had several times as many babies if you would have stripped the female cichlid a day or two earlier. They'll throw 20-50+ eggs per pass! While being brooded, the catfish do not descriminate between cichlid fry and catfish fry when it comes to eating. If you strip them as clear ghosts(3-4 days post spawn) instead of pigmented fry you can raise them quite easily in a standard egg tumbler(larger the better though).
Also, I aways had the best luck with Victorian Haplochomines (Ugandan "Fire Haps" to be specific) than any other group of fish. Malawians in particular tend to get "wise" to the catfish and either defend the nest site extremely vigorously(mbuna and electric blues), quit spawning (Protomelas and others) or actually sort the eggs in their mouth (Aulocara. I actually watched a female A. stuartgranti female spawn, pick up multi eggs then proceed to swim across the length of a 55 gallon tank expelling catfish eggs from her gills! The following day when we stripped her, she was only carrying cichlid eggs!

BTW: Between '95 and '96 I raised and sold over 700 Synodontis multipunctatus at an average price of just over $12.00 each! I still have most of my breeders from then and actually only JUST put them back with host fish a little over 3 weeks ago!

Great job, have fun raising the little beanpoles! Feed them allot then they'll be less likely to eat each other. You can literally get them to grow to 1" long in as little as 4 weeks!

-

Christina · Post by **Christina** » 01 Mar 2004, 04:04

Yup, They are indeedy s. multipuntatus fry. They've grown amazingly even in the last two days. A couple today pics.

They have been doing very very well

Eating like pigs that's for sure.

I'm not sure I would have had any more had I striped her earlier. This was the syno's first spawn

The female is still very very ripe with eggs, so I am hoping for another spawn as soon as the cichlids go at it.

Thanks for the info

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pturley · Post by **pturley** » 01 Mar 2004, 13:42

You would have in that the catfish eat each other as well as the cichlid eggs while being brooded.

The catfish do not drop a small number of eggs with each pass. They literally spray out a large number of eggs (sometimes more than 50) all over the entire cichlid spawning site.

Good luck with future spawns. Though for long term success you'll either need to isolate the cats (only adding them every other cichlid spawn) or switch to a different host group periodically. That or get a colony of Victorian Haplochromines.

Christina · Post by **Christina** » 01 Mar 2004, 14:49

Thanks Paul, I did not know that. Hopefully future spawns will result in more babies. I had a heck of a time finding out exactly when I should strip the cich. I couldn't find that info anywhere

So I had to guess with this one.

In the tank they are in, I have some Venustus in that tank as well, 1m 3 f Which when mature, will hopefully prove to be good hosts as well.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 01 Mar 2004, 15:11

Venustus does live up to be a host, but it's a huge, agressive fish.

Not easy to keep in a small tank, males can kill their females with little issue whatsoever.

If you like Malawian hosts, you might check out one of the following:
-Placidochromis electra or P phenochilus
-Copadichromis spp
-Protomelas spp
-Labeotropheus spp
-Otopharynx lithobates

Except for the "roadrunnerlike" Labeo's, the rest are quite docile for Malawians, hence easier to maintain in tanks less than huge.
As a bonus, if you forget to strip, they won't "choke to death" on Syno-fry developing spines*; all mentioned species get large enough (the females that is!) to carry to term and spit a few Syno-babies.

Like Paul says; Vics do even better, BUT* they MUST be stripped or they die choking.....

michelle56 · Post by **michelle56** » 01 Mar 2004, 22:30

Those are cute Christina. ;)

Cheers!,
HMH

Post by **Rusty** » 01 Mar 2004, 22:39

michelle56 wrote:Those are cute Christina. ;)

Cheers!,
HMH

michelle56,

How does this add to the topic at hand in any way? Please stop making completely trivial posts. Consider this your final warning before a ban.

Rusty

Christina · Post by **Christina** » 02 Mar 2004, 02:33

sidguppy wrote:Venustus does live up to be a host, but it's a huge, agressive fish.

Not easy to keep in a small tank, males can kill their females with little issue whatsoever.

.

Thanks, no worries. I have a tank full of aggressive fishes

It is a weird tank actually. So called community fish, with aggressive fish, pred's, etc. So far in this tank I've had bristlenose pleco babies, syno fry, and a geophagus brasilinesis spawn

I'm eagarly awaiting future syno spawns L) Thanks for the info. I'm glad my V's will live up to being hosts