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I want to keep the following stock in a 90 gallon most of which I have(except the synos obviously)

1 elephant nose
2 Nandus Nandus-African false tiger elaf fish
2 African Butterflys
2 Rope fish (Erpetoichthys calabaricus)
2 Syno.Decorus
3 Syno.Sngelicus

My main question isnt of compatability (I only list incase someone sees an issue) but of activity of Synos... Should I expect to never see them like a raphaiel catfish or are they active during the day at all?

Can you explain their general behavior to me? I need an active swimmer. The rope fish are the very active but the leaf fish and butterflys arent so I want to see some more movement.

Thanks

oh. It should be noted that the following is how it will be set up; a sand substrate about an inch think. Tons of planted driftwood and rocks. A custom background(made by me) with wood infused that will have anubias, moss, bolbitis and ferns growing all over the place. I will also build over hangs for hiding into the background. And a centerpiece "rooty" stump... with of course.. plants growing all over it.

There will be tons of places to hide and hang out because I know they need this as well.

Just as a side question: Arent elephant noses shoaling fish?

Caol_ila wrote:Just as a side question: Arent elephant noses shoaling fish?

Hey Carol,
They actually couldnt be any further from shoaling. Quite solitary and ornary at that. They are an electric fish not unlike BGKs or baby whales etc. They do not tolerate any other electrical fish in the same tank. You may be able to get away with one per hundred gallons or so... but even then I wouldnt... It is a fantastic fish though.

Barbie wrote:Everything looks fine to me, except the S. angelicus. You'll only be able to keep 1. Once they get any size to them they get territorial, unless you have 5 or 6, and even that is no guarantee. They tend to just spend their nights chasing and tormenting the one they want to get out of their territory, unless you raise a good group from young ones, and even that is no guarantee.

Barbie

So the angelicus are more solitary I take it... so what if I dump two angelicus and replace with one more decorus? Do you think that would be ok?

Hi!

This is very interesting as the general advise on all german forums and homepages i know is that these are shoaling fish requiring tanks of above 500 litres and more for groups of 6 fish.

That name is Caol btw ;)

Caol_ila wrote:Hi!

This is very interesting as the general advise on all german forums and homepages i know is that these are shoaling fish requiring tanks of above 500 litres and more for groups of 6 fish.

That name is Caol btw ;)

hehe.. sorry about that.

Hmmm. Everything I have ever read is to the contrary so I have never tried... hmmm... Dont know what to tell you. Mine is agressive towrards EVERYTHING... but of course it couldnt hirt a fly if it wanted to... but it chases eevrybody... im sure it annoys them more tahn anything else

Deliverme314 wrote:2 Nandus Nandus-African false tiger elaf fish

There is nothing African about Nandus nandus. It comes from South Asia. It also happens to be a predatory fish not very suitable to a community tank.

Dinyar

Maybe misidentified Ctenopoma acutirostre?
those ARE African, and someone inexperienced could mistake them for Nandus.....

About the Elephantnose: They ARE shoalers!!
however; they only show this behaviour, once you get 15-20 or more; they'll stay together in a dense "ball", constantly moving.
But keeping 20 highly active fishes, that grow to 1 foot in length would require a huge tank!!

I've seen them in whopping big importers tanks and despite plenty room (we're talking 3-4 meters tanks here), they stayed together in a dense cloud, exactly like herring or sardines.
Some species do not show this behaviour, the dolphinlike, predatory Mormyrus for example, are highly territorial (wich makes sense for a piscivore: foodsupply!), but Gnathonemus petersi is a shoaler, so are Marcusenius and similar small, roundheaded species.but numbers are needed to show this fascinating behaviour.

Like other fierce shoaling fish, once the numbers are too low, the shoaling behaviour disappears and individual behaviour goes the other way around.
Famous similar examples that might ring a bell are Synodontis angelicus and S schall, Chalceus macrolepidotus, Anostomus anostomus (Headstander), Apteronotus albifrons (Ghostfish), Tropheus spp, and Blue Damsels in Reeftanks.

Is there any harm to other fishes if you keep 20 elephantnoses. They use electricity to navigate(?) you know what i mean.

Sorry about that.

I could have sworn they were african. And they are fine with fish that are to large to eat. But if they think they can eat it they are vicious.

As for the elephant nose. That is really interesting. I wish I had a tank large enough to observe that... I had no idea. Everything I have ever read is totaly to the opposite to that.

Soooo... anyone want to give me some info on these synos? Should I expect alot of activity out of S.Decorus and S.Angelicus? In general what should I expect? Dont feel like you need to stop talkiing about the off topic stuff... but I would appreciate any info on these guys.

thanks

I would stay away from the S. decorus. It is a very timid fish that is easily bullied, despite its moderately large size.

Dinyar

Do you think anyone of my stock would bully it/ I cant see any of them... except for maybe the Angelicus as you guys are making them sound real bullish... but certainly not the butterflys or ropefish. I think the tiger leaf fish would be ok too... but I am not married to them being in this tank anyway...

I'd stay away from the Nandus if I were you. They get pretty big, and are quite nasty. Not sure about how nasty bichirs (BTW, they get big! I have seen a presered E. calabaricus in the yard long range, and quite fat to boot) are, but if they assert themselves at all the S. decorus will suffer. The angelicus may be OK if you ditch the decorus.

Rusty

Hey Rusty,
The ornate Bichir does get large to about 18" and get thick. That said they are pretty good with anything that could not be considered food. SO I am not worried about them. The Nandus like I said I am not married to having them and could consider replacing with another couple of large mid dwelling fish.

But that aside... someone... anyone... an answer to the question that was the purpose of this thread? Not that I dont appreciate the advice. I do. But I am still looking for behavior info on S.Decorus and Angelicus as to their activity... out and about? Secretive and not well displayed? Etc...

Hi!

The behaviour of S.decorus will directly be linked to the other fishes you have in there. If its intimidated you wont see very much of it. Dunno about the S.angelicus but just guessing you wont see much of the decorus if its with an angelicus.

Is there any harm to other fishes if you keep 20 elephantnoses. They use electricity to navigate(?) you know what i mean.

no harm.
it's all lowlevel currents, millivolts and the like.
And combining them with riverine Africans or riverine South Americans isn't a problem; those rivers are infested with Mormyrids (Africa) or Gymnotids (South America), so most -if not all- fishes are quite used to low level electricity.

I don't know if there's any Asian freshwater fish that uses electricity for navigation, nor one that kills with it (both Africa and South America do have that kind of fish as well), so I'm not sure if Asian fishes would be OK with Mormyrids or Gymnotids.
but I've reason enough to think it wouldn't bother them at all (the nonkilling kind, that is )