occifer catfish?
-
thecichlidpleco
- Posts: 24
- Joined: 25 Jan 2006, 19:59
- Location 1: Toledo
occifer catfish?
Any idea about what an occifer catfish is? Found them at a LFS and on sale. I think they would be good with my aulonacara or my tanganikians
-
medaka
- Expert
- Posts: 967
- Joined: 23 Dec 2003, 23:55
- I've donated: $20.00!
- My articles: 5
- My images: 66
- My cats species list: 3 (i:0, k:1)
- Spotted: 28
- Location 1: Runcorn.
- Location 2: Cheshire.UK
- Interests: Asiancatfish/corys
-
sidguppy
- Posts: 3827
- Joined: 18 Jan 2004, 12:26
- My articles: 1
- My images: 28
- My aquaria list: 5 (i:0)
- Spotted: 9
- Location 1: Southern Netherlands near Belgium
- Location 2: Noord Brabant, Netherlands
- Interests: African catfishes and oddballs, Madagascar cichlids; stoner doom and heavy rock; old school choppers and riding them, fantasy novels, travelling and diving in the tropics and all things nature.
- Contact:
Synodontis ocellifer are well suited for the Rifttank (Tanganyika, malawi, Viktoria).
It's one of the few riverine species I'd really recommend if you cannot afford the more expensive or not available multipunctatus or petricola.
the ocellifer is very hardy, adapt to almost any food and water and is well capable of co-existing with a huge list of cichlidspecies.
just bear in mind a few things:
-it's a sturdy built medium-large fish. most will reach at least 6" (15 cm) and fish reaching the stated 8"/20 cm aren't that rare at all (most Syno's don't reach their max size in captivity). so don't use a small tank.
-it's a territorial species. not really a bad one (like angelicus, schall or schoutedeni), but definitely more fierce than the average nigrita or multipunctatus! if you buy a group, make sure the tank is roomy and has plenty of suitable caves. 2-3 is a BAD number. best keep 1 or at least 4.
sometimes they do fine as a pair (male and female), but you have to be lucky with that. it's not a given fact. usually 2 is not a good number with Synodontis.
-they eat ANYTHING suitable; you can forget about having much fry survive; 0,5"/1cm fishes are snacks.
apart from that a great catfish to start with if you're only used to the occasional Bristlenose. cheap, tough, goodlooking, easy to keep and long lasting as well (they can last at least 15-20)
It's one of the few riverine species I'd really recommend if you cannot afford the more expensive or not available multipunctatus or petricola.
the ocellifer is very hardy, adapt to almost any food and water and is well capable of co-existing with a huge list of cichlidspecies.
just bear in mind a few things:
-it's a sturdy built medium-large fish. most will reach at least 6" (15 cm) and fish reaching the stated 8"/20 cm aren't that rare at all (most Syno's don't reach their max size in captivity). so don't use a small tank.
-it's a territorial species. not really a bad one (like angelicus, schall or schoutedeni), but definitely more fierce than the average nigrita or multipunctatus! if you buy a group, make sure the tank is roomy and has plenty of suitable caves. 2-3 is a BAD number. best keep 1 or at least 4.
sometimes they do fine as a pair (male and female), but you have to be lucky with that. it's not a given fact. usually 2 is not a good number with Synodontis.
-they eat ANYTHING suitable; you can forget about having much fry survive; 0,5"/1cm fishes are snacks.
apart from that a great catfish to start with if you're only used to the occasional Bristlenose. cheap, tough, goodlooking, easy to keep and long lasting as well (they can last at least 15-20)
Valar Morghulis