Riparium setup for Synodontis petricola

[hydrophyte]

Hi all, I am new member here. I don't know much about catfish systematics or ecology or anything, but I have kept a few as community fish in aquaria. I have decided to get a little more serious and set up a species tank, and that's how I ended up on PlanetCatfish.com. This looks like a cool site.

I just placed an order for a group of Synodontis petricola and they should get here in just a day or two. I hope to set them up in a healthy and engaging display with live plants. I have a few different ideas in mind for putting it together. Most of my display tanks are ripariums, so they feature emergent plants rooted into hanging and/or floating planters. This 120-gallon tank that I put together for some Mexican poecilid and goodeid livebearers is an example of how these ripariums look.



That one also gives an idea of what I have in mind for this new setup. Most of the ripariums that I have set up have also included underwater plants, but I want this one to emphasize the S. petricola, along with some well-chosen stones and gravel substrate. So, it will only have plants in the above-water area. I am not really trying to recreate any specific biotope and I might also include a small shoal of a wild-type Poecilia (a New World fish) as something to swim around in the upper levels of the tank. I have a few specific plant ideas and I'll come back with another post to explain those too.

I am excited to see those fish. I hope that they will travel well.

[amiidae]

Very nice looking set up.

What water parameters do you maintain ?

[naturalart]

Are you aware that S. petricola is a rift lake species?

[Birger]

I am wondering as well of your water parameters planned for this tank,mostly I am wondering if the plants are okay with the parameters these fish prefer.

The planned catfish and Central American Poecilia should do fine as I think they would both like the same conditions, and these syno's are fairly peaceful.

Your

Synodontis petricola

could very well turn out to be

Synodontis lucipinnis

Still a great fish!!

The above riparium looks great, I look forward to pictures of this new tank.

Birger

[hydrophyte]

Yes I am aware that S. petricola is from Lake Tanganyika. As I mentioned I do not really intend to make a biotope setup--I just want to put together some engaging fish and plants. The fish breeder who is sending me the fish indicated that she has kept her stock in water of pH 7.8. I use water for most of my tanks that is a blend of 1/2 RO and 1/2 hard municipal tap, with pH 7.6 and GH of around 12. Most of the emersed riparium plants grow really well in my water and the petricola should be OK too. The riparium shown in that picture is maintained with pure municipal tap water and has pH 8.2.

[DutchFry]

amazing! very nice riparium, price winner if you ask me!

I too look forward to see more pics in the future!

[Shane]

Realize you are not looking for a true biotope, so these photos may give you some ideas.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... cle_id=417

They are not of Lake Tanganyika, but the general flora and geology of Lake Victoria is similar. From south Lake Victoria to north Lake Tanganyika is a fairly short distance as the crow flys.

To get the "Africa feel" I would suggest stones with a yellow to reddish coloration. The sand is always light colored. Note that rocks and sand in this photo are locally collected.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... cle_id=420

With regard to plants, Africa is a dream. Sadly the most useful plants for the type of set up you are looking at do not come from eastern Africa (i.e. Anubias, Bolbitis, etc). Switching to a west or central African jungle theme would open many more plant options.

Submersed aquatic plant life in this area is dominated by papyrus and Nymphea.

http://www.ramsar.org/cda/ramsar/displa ... 906_4000_0__

I have always admired riparium-type set ups and yours above is a wonderful example. You have me thinking to set one up myself soon. Heck I can even collect all the plants locally.
-Shane

[hydrophyte]

Thanks very much for those links. Like I said already I am not trying to make a biotope tank. The Synodonitis will be the main theme for the display, but I will also include a Mexican livebearer and a Central American cichlid. I have a few plants in mind already and they include West African selections as well as stuff from East Asia and the Neotropics.

[hydrophyte]

...so the popular fish group that begins with a "C" and ends with a "D" is a dirty word around here?

[Bas Pels]

I don't think it is a good idea to combine cichlids from central america with any african fish.

The S petricola are adapted to cope with malawi cichlids, which are very different from Central American cichlids

Therefore, chances are, they (or the cichlids) react incorrectly, which might result is dead fish

Keep fish together with the species they encounter in nature. This is by far the best solution to prevent many problems

[MatsP]

...so the popular fish group that begins with a "C" and ends with a "D" is a dirty word around here?

Only if you have the "censor words" option set in your User Control settings (can't remember exactly how you get to the option, something like "Viewing Options", I think).

And it is documented in the FAQ, which you can find under "Help!".

@Bas: S. petricola/S. lucipinnis are from the other Rift Lake, L. Tanganyika, but yes, I agree mixing fish from different continents is not a great idea, especially if the fish are agressive towards other fish, which Cichlids tend to be.

--
Mats

[hydrophyte]

The Central American I have is a 4" Cryptoheros cutteri. He's a very mellow fish. This species can be aggressive if kept among conspecifics or similar-looking fish, but I have never had any trouble with it or similar cichlids when kept with my livebearers.

[Jon]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I kept many a mix of rift lakers, goodeids, and synos together without much issue. All fish that are going in to the tank sound pretty robust (although I'm not sure what goodeids would be suitable for the mid to high 70s and large enough to not risk being eaten--ameca? ilyodon?). Also, that first tank is really quite marvelous.

[hydrophyte]

I think that the fish will be OK. For now I am just starting out with the cats and the mollies.

I hope to work on it some more tonight and post a few more pictures.

[hydrophyte]

I got a few more things into the tank the night before, and a few pictures.



The floating bag contains the group of P. chica. I want to put some effort into selecting and scaping the hardscape elements and other substrates. The picture below shows the marine substrate comprised of many small shells. I will probably sprinkle just a small amount of this on top of the main base substrate, the coarse sand in the larger green plastic container.



I also added a single plant in a riparium planter, a Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon' (below, center plant). This is a real good riparium plant, but this specimen looks a little ratty and will require some trimming and re-growth.



I will introduce more plants soon.

[hydrophyte]

The fish arrived last night. Here are the seven happy little swimming juvenile Synodontis petricola.



What fun! These fish look great and they were expertly packed. I have a couple more shots of setting them up in the tank too.

[hydrophyte]

Here are the new fish, acclimating for a little while in the bag.



This is a fat female Poecilia chica.

[DutchFry]

nice fish, great stuff!

I'm a bit afraid the small shells will damage the Syno's barbels....

[Birger]

I'm a bit afraid the small shells will damage the Syno's barbels....

I would not think this would be a problem, but definitely keep an eye on them for unusual wear ...the shells themselves look fairly smooth and these fish generally are used to rubbing up on rocks and such, unlike Corydoras which spend a fair amount of time over sand.

Birger

[hydrophyte]

I'm not too worried about those shell fragments. The edges of each little bit are worn and rounded due to dissolution in the water.

[hydrophyte]

I think that I might have a good centerpiece plant that I can use. An emergent aroid (Family Araceae), Cyrtospoerma johnstonii is originally from Southeast Asia. It has striking leaves.



I have two little divisions of this plant that are growing well, albeit slowly, in riparium planters. The slow growth is advantageous, because mature specimens can be more than 4' tall. I hope that I will be able to control the size of these plants as they grow.

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Cyperus alternatifolius or Cyperus papyrus are very good emergents for ripariums, in fact you might wish they grew a little less well.
They are both suitable for highly calcareous water.
cheers Darrel

[hydrophyte]

I have some C. alternatifolius in my 120 gallon setup and it is a great plant. However, the variety that I have--I can't remember which one it is(?)--gets rather big for growing indoors. Cyperus do surprisingly well under fluorescent lighting.

[hydrophyte]

I got this tank set up and here it is with water in it.



I have several pictures with more details of setup and I mean to go add more to the other thread that I started on removal of the plastic tank rim... http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =4&t=28193

It's a bit more than 2/3 full. I applied a black painted background just to the portion that will be below water.

[hydrophyte]

Here is the setup with gravel, filter and heater.



And here with hardscape.



The hardscape might change. The Synos. prefer to hide spend most of their time in the upended pots in the tank where I have them now. I attempted to build some little foreground caves for them to hang out, but it didn't work so well with these rocks. I will look for other options. Will these S. petricola always be this shy, or can I expect to see them swimming around more as they grow up larger?

[Richard B]

Are your fish actually petricola or are they lucipinnis? Lucipinnis are still sold as petricola in most retailers & for years were called petricola 'dwarf' until being described to science in december 2006. The pic earlier in the thread look like lucipinnis IMHO.

My petricola are quite shy compared to my lucipinnis & most lucipinnis are quite active & visible in tanks where they feel secure & not dominated by aggressive tankmates

[Birger]

The pic earlier in the thread look like lucipinnis IMHO.

To me as well.

[hydrophyte]

Thanks for those opinions. So how big does lucipinnis grow? I am glad to hear that they are more bold than petricola. Can I expect to see them swimming about more as they grow larger?

[Birger]

Thanks for those opinions. So how big does lucipinnis grow? I am glad to hear that they are more bold than petricola. Can I expect to see them swimming about more as they grow larger?

Check this out...and they do become fairly active and cruise around constantly in the right conditions.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... 3C%2Fem%3E

Birger

[andywoolloo]

sweet article, Birger !!!

My lucipinnis are out and about all day and night, but they are the only occupants. They are slightly more timid in day time , but not much anymore.