PlanetCatfish.com

Hello,

as I am setting up my fishroom, I start looking for information on a very particular fish: Synodontis granulosus.
This is a species that I want to successfully reproduce in the aquarium.

I would therefore have a few questions for those who have maintained some and who still maintain some.
On the site sheet, it is written that a 500l (125 gallons) is recommended. Is the length or the height which is to be preferred? What dimensions do you recommend knowing that I have the possibility of customizing?

Regarding the layout of the tank, as it is a fairly large fish, what hiding places do you recommend? What layout? Rather roots or rocks as I have to maintain a pH above 7.5?
Are the white rocks with holes (as for the cichildes) obligatory or can I use another type of rock?

For the choice of individuals, I read on another forum that individuals crossed with another species were in circulation. Choosing wild individuals will it allow me to avoid falling on hybrid individuals?
How to recognize "pure strain" granulosus?

Depending on the size of the tank that you will advise me, how many individuals could I put?
Do I have to separate a couple or can they live in a group?

For food, I usually give Tropical Carnivores (https://www.aquaristikshop.com/aquarist ... re/172465/) and homemade trout mash with a vitamin supplement to my other catfishes, would you have other foods to offer me? What do they eat in their natural environment?

I also read that reproductions had taken place in captivity, does anyone have any details concerning the age of the fish and the triggering of spawning? Do they monitor their eggs or will it be necessary to recover the laying / the fry?

I'll probably ask more questions as you answer and I'm sorry about that. I want to be as informed as possible in order to avoid any error with this magnificent and rare species.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Since noone else has given you an answer, I'll try to answer your questions to my best knowledge.

The recommended 500l is good for one fish but in your case when you want to breed these a bigger tank would be more suitable for multible inviduals as granulosus is know to be rather aggressive. From the few breeding reports I have heard, some kept their males and females seperate and indroduced them together for breeding. This method was somewhat succesfull I believe. Some have reported breeding to occur spontaneously in a large community tank. But I don't have any first hand experience on breeding this species, all I know for certain is that they are egg scatterers that show no parental care.

The set-up of the tank is really up to you, only thing that is important is cover and enough hiding places.

For you to be certain that you are buying real granulosus it is best to buy wild caught individuals as there aren't many who even have bred these. Most captive bred specimens are hybrids that have been produced in the eastern Europe. Since you are already looking for these fish you must know about the high prices these fish have so it won't be cheap to get a breeding group. The price of one WC fish is somwhere in the range on 200-500 euros.

Thank you for your answer.

I was thinking of leaving on an 800l (211 gallons) with a maximum of hiding places. The problem with aggressive behaviors is that they depend on many things. I especially had behaviors of the kind with Ameiurus melas of which an individual to kill 3 of these congeners before finding the good one. I think this kind of behavior depends on the number of hiding places, the age but also the character of the fish. It is still necessary not to confuse it with behaviors of reproductions. That's why I would like to hear opinions from anyone who has maintained it. Know what can trigger these attacks and how to avoid them. If it is related to an unestablished hierarchy because of too few individuals, that would mean that they need a big tank if not a basin.

I thought indeed to go on wild individuals in order to avoid this concern. I will see with the seller who has farmed them to find out where they come from. The ones I've seen are 299 euros. This is the price I usually see posted when there is somewhere so I knew what to expect when I said to myself 10 years ago that one day I would have this species.

I haven't kept or bred S. granulosus but I've bred several synodontis species. It goes without saying that while you need a male & female to breed, you will greatly increase your chances of success with 6 or 10 or 16 broodstock over a single pair.

And what ever that percentage of success that mature group in a tank has, you can double that percentage by having two tanks....

Not being a smart ar*e, hopefully you dedicate the necessary time and effort towards the project. Buy as many fish and tanks as you can afford.

Hello and thank you.
I would like to go with a group of 8 but my main question is: can they tolerate several if the number of hiding places and the food is sufficient?
Is an 800l tank sufficient for 8 synodontis (tank specific to this species)?
I currently maintain 7 Synodontis nigriventris and they are peaceful with each other provided that the number of hiding places is sufficient. Is this the same for granulosus?
I can't find anything on their character and as it takes fairly large installations (minimum one individual for 500l) I would like to be sure.
In view of the rarity of the species, I would not want to lose a single one.
If he's like the other synodontis, that won't be a problem, but I've read that there is sometimes aggression.
Should I prepare several bins just in case?
If I take juveniles that I put directly together, am I more likely that they get along well?

Keep in mind Granulosus are a very different fish then a Nigriventris, they will not play nicely and your size of tank will be a minimum. these fish are an open and deep water fish in the lake and like to roam in the open, they also are very rough with each other with the larger females tending to rip apart the others as they mature. All may be peaceful at first but it will turn into a battleground soon enough.
spawning, as far as I know has only been done with the use of hormones, do not expect to set up a marble trap and sit back and collect the eggs.

Thanks for these informations.

So if I take 8, it is better that I wait to be able to distinguish male and female (unless the difference is visible before? ) and keep only one couple (or even two) which will potentially be separated in case of problem.
You say that only the reproduction by hormone was conclusive but it is written on the planetcatfish sheet that the reproduction was successful in a private individual (in England when we dig a little) but that this one did not give any details.
The specimens I can have are farmed from Germany and England. Even if they come from breeding by injection of hormones, breeding will undoubtedly be easier (juveniles are often easier to adapt to a tank than young wild adults). Otherwise I have the possibility of having the wild but the cohesion of the group risks being more complicated.

Once I was asked to keep a group of 5 for a friend. I had empty tanks, he decorated the tank, and everything seemed OK.

But, not much later 1 swam around without much skin. I put it behind a devider, wondering what had happend. A week later it was recovered much, enough for me to dare putting it into another tank (stress is a kiler, and for a fish the stress of the fight and of the rehousing can be too much). Good that I did so, because not mch later another one was skinned. And the devider returned, while I netted 2 of the remaining fishes to other tanks.

So within a month I had 5 tanks with each 1 granulosus.

I was happy returning them, and I knowe I will never try this again.

Perhaps the tank(s) was too small 140 * 50 * 40 cm, but still, this is not a fish for me.

I would warn you about their agression towards each other.

I'm not sure anyone has tested raising a number of small fishes into adulthood in the same tank but it's very likely the aggression mentioned above will remain. If I ever got the chance, I would raise these fishes together being prepared to split them into their own tanks and add pairs to a new tank for spawning attempts.

Jools

Ok. So in view of the opinions it is better that I go on several tanks with one individual per tank outside the spawning period (in anticipation, I would of course test cohabitation and separate the individuals at the first sign of aggression).
From what size are they sexable?
If I have the means to have a couple directly, this will allow me to observe them and see if maintenance with several people is possible or not.

I haven't kept this species.

Synodontis are relatively rare in my country, usually $1500 - $3000 each. For the species I do have, I keep broodstock together in large tanks/tubs. Have duplicate colonies for redundancy as it takes many years to source & grow. It's part of fish keeping - observation & skill to know if fish are happy or need bigger tanks, segregation etc.

When spawning is planned, I separate sexes, condition with lots of food protein - may take several months - canulate if needed to assess egg readiness. Hormone induced and dry fertilised. The spawning is the easiest part with hatching (UV sterilisers, boosting dissolved oxygen, etc) and first feeds often challenging.

Male synodontis have corkscrew like testes so hand stripping is difficult, best to get 5 or 6 males per female like most catfish.

reproduction was successful in a private individual (in England when we dig a little)

This was done with hormones by this individual, I remember talking with him when I was at the CSG meeting as a speaker in 2010.

Hello
I found a 1400l tank, so I could put a removable partition for periods outside reproduction. I also had my supplier who may have wild synodontis but the timelines are unknown.
I did not know that this reproduction had been made with hormones. This complicates the task a little and increases the challenge. I would post anyway all the information that I would collect both for maintenance and for reproduction.