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I just picked up two S. Brichardi, great looking fish. Anyone keeping these guys that could pass on some info would be appreciated. I have them in a 75USG tank with 20x lateral current, a river tank setup. Also in the tank are an S. Angelicus, two L75 Peckoltia Sabajii, a young L114, three L260's and an S. Petricola. I don't see much of them so far, only at night....like any good catfish!!

This a super species that can certainly hold their own in a mixed syno set-up. 2 is not the best number though as one will certainly dominate the other. I have found them unfussy as long as the water is good quality with plenty of aeration & will eat just about anything offered. How are they (& the L no's) geeting along with the angelica?

Although it has not been captive bred by hobbyists, spawning clinches (which were not typical of synos) were pictured in FAMA many years ago where the male wrapped his body around the females head whilst she was flat on the bottom - i never heard of anything coming from this.

Interestingly they can remain motionless on the glass like a pleco, sucking on.

Good Morning Richard, or perhaps it's more like noon in the UK. Yes, I thought perhaps picking up a couple more of the brichardi might be a good idea. So far I haven't seen any problems with any of the other neighbors, but the tank is crowded, or I should say the tank isn't, but the rockwork is not adequate for the number of cats I have in there. I will be moving the L260's and the L114 out in a couple of weeks, as soon as I have my new 58USG set up and running. When I do I also plan to expand the rockwork to better accomodate the cats. Right now there are two rock piles and all the cats are able to get out of sight, but not have their own apartments and I need to remedy that....Do the brichardi work better in groups or should I separate them into different tanks and keep them as singles??

Brichardi do go well in groups as long as they are not crowded - for these, extra territory/cover can be created by long branches of beech or oak stretching the length of the tank - aquarium woods are more often favoured by these & angelica whilst rift lake petricola prefer rockwork.

I have in an emergency in the past kept angelica, schoutedeni & brichardi in a tanganyikan set-up & the rift synos were not happy! No real trouble, just uneasiness. I have seen angelica take a real dislike to some L no's & tear them to bits - not a pretty sight

How is the petricols coping? (is it petricola or lucipinnis?)

It is 13.36 as i hit the submit button

Hello again Richard. Well, the angelicus is new also and young (small), so no problems from it so far with my L's. I have heard that they can be nasty fish though, as opposed to my 18 yr old S.eupterus who seems to get along with anybody he's ever been housed with in his long life, large or small. Never thought the angelicus might be a threat to my L's, at least not the two L75's that will be staying in that tank, as they are both about 15cm long and growing. I'll keep an eye on things though since you mentioned it. As for the petricola, yes, I'm pretty certain that's what he is, he has also been in several tanks with an assortment of neighbors over the past 12+ years and he seems to adjust regardless. He's a "ghost fish". I may not see him for weeks at a time and then one day he pops out for a minute or I catch him out after dark looking for food. When I rearrange the furniture in the tank I will add some new oak branches. I live in the forest, so that's not hard to come by.

Sounds like you have most things in hand - keep us posted