Breeding Synodontis Petricolas

[Madame X]

Help!

I've had my two petricolas in a 55 gallon tank with a few other cichlids for a couple of years. I've always wondered if I had a pair or not because they've always been close.

Well, tonight they confirmed my suspicion! I saw some unusual behavior from them, sort of pecking at the gravel, then swimming into two very small terracotta caves I have in the tank (both together). My polit would come over and peck at the gravel again, but one of the catfish would chase him away.

I told my husband, "I sure wish I knew if we had a pair". Then we both started to watch. Sure enough, one of the catfish had a huge belly! After watching for a bit, my husband could see some eggs come floating out of one of the little caves.

It appears that the catfish are trying to gather them up and put them into the cave. Or am I just reading too much into this and they're just eating them?

I think I probably have zero chance of actually getting fry out of these eggs and succesfully raising them in this tank. I have several Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank to keep the sand stirred up, and I know they're notorious for eating the eggs. Even if they don't, the three cichlids in the tank (pseudotropheus polit, neolamprologus brichardi and neolamprologus leleupi) will probably eat the fry.

Still... there is that stubborn part of me that wants to try and remove the eggs.

So--any advice? I've never had any fry other than from livebearers, so I have no experience raising them.

This is so cool... I wish I could save just a few! They're my absolute favorite catfish.

[toddnbecka]

I would try using a net breeder for the eggs, and place it somewhere it will get good water circulation, then search the forum, there have been a fair number of posts on breeding and raising petricola's. I have 9 in my 55, still waiting for them to grow enough to spawn. I have been a Synodontis fan for years, and these are the best yet. I always wanted to breed some cats, but couldn't afford the setup and stocking for angelicus, and hormone injections are a little out of my league. Congratulations, and good luck. If you added 3 or 4 more, they would be happier though, since unlike most Synodontis, petricola's are happier in groups.