Your views on keeping Synodontis multipunctatus with mouthbrooders.

[Doza]

Looking at keeping Synodontis multipunctatus in with my mbuna and im curious on anyone views or experince with this..

I know that they will eat and replace the eggs of the mouthbrooder with their own... Do they always do this whenever there is a spawn..? Is that the only way to get a spawn from Synodontis multipunctatus?

 

[larry.beck]

I know they will always try, but I've heard that some species are better than others at avoiding their "attack" (I don't know the specifics though). If you aren't specifically trying to breed then I think it would be sort of cool to see it and try to grow out some of the cats as well.

 

[Addictedtofish]

That is the only way you can get offspring of these cats. They dont spawn as often as your mouthbrooders. I have 3 of them right now right around 3" with my Zebra Obliquidens. I orginally had them with my tropheus where I seen the idea. Fr0nts that you rarely ever see on here has 3 adults with his trophs with 1 female pregnant. I havent talked to him in about a month so I dont know if she has done the deed yet. Im thinking of getting some more from bobby to add to my mix hap peacock tank. You do need bigger mouthbrooders, some of the mbuna's are to small, like Demasoni's etc. There my favorite african catfish so far, they are very active come to the top to feed and chase each other around. More active than my featherfin catfish and upside down catfish.

 

[Doza]

I would get a different cichlid if i wanted to raise the cat eggs.. Ive seen them say certain cichlids are better for raising them and holding them than others..

What syno looks the best.. are there different varieties with different finnige

 

[Addictedtofish]

The reason why there as expensive as they are is because of the parasite breeding method, so most people figure there taking the place of what that mother would normally be holding for cost.

 

[Addictedtofish]

The multi is a known cat that is a parasite, the petricola isnt documented as a fact for being the same way. There is another african cat thats a parasite but so far I havent seen any documented facts which one it is. I think there is a dwarf version of the petricola, which is really close looking as the multi.

 

[Doza]

Is there any other cats from the other african lakes... I like a bottom dweller but dont want just corys or anything like that.. But i dont want a catfish that gets huge and dwarfs my mbuna.. lol

The showcase is on the mbuna not a couple cats.. lol

 

[Addictedtofish]

Most of them only get 6 to 9" which is perfect. My adult featherfin is the boss of my front tank, mainly because I put him in the tank a week before the rest of the fish. Some cats only do well being single unless you have a big tank. I know the multi's prefer to be in a school than single.

 

[Doza]

what is this fetherfin?

 

[Addictedtofish]

here is a link and pic. This isnt a pic of mine either.



http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/african-catfish/featherfin-catfish/100062.asp

 

[larry.beck]

Petricola are what I have - the dwarf size - I actually have them in my fry tank at the moment to grow them out a tad more. They're only about 2" or so right now. They'll end up in my Tang tank. I picked them up at APFP and intentionally went for the smaller ones in the tank.

Addicted - featherfins are beautiful! Have you posted pictures of yours yet? I'd love to see them.

 

[larry.beck]

We cross-posted.

 

[Doza]

here is a link and pic. This isnt a pic of mine either.

Lol.. thanks which do you prefer them or the multis?? I love the look of this guy

 

[larry.beck]

I don't believe you can keep featherfins with mbuna, Doza. They're a Tang lake fish but more importantly, I think mbuna would go after their fins like mad.

 

[Addictedtofish]

I dont have a good camera yet, I recently bought a new Android 2 smartphone with 5 mp camera, and it sucks. When I get off my lazy butt and become rich I will get a good camera and I promise I will take some good pics of all my tanks. My featherfin is 6 to 7" I got him when he was 3.5" and he grew very fast. But I have 2 other ones at 2" that are growing slow that I got from big fish aquatics a few months ago.

 

[Doza]

i thought all the african lake fish really could co exist being the extremely close water parameters.

 

[larry.beck]

Nice. I'm jealous!

 

[larry.beck]

The water conditions wouldn't be the problem, the level of aggression would be.

 

[Addictedtofish]

Actually featherfins are a nile river fish, but the PH is close enough for them to work in african rift lake setups. I know there is no documented info on them breeding in captivity. So I keep them for cleanup and decoration.

 

[Doza]

i thought the nile was a low ph water system?

you can always hope right... well i gotta go but keep the info coming... im keeping the gf up.. Cant have that.. lol ...
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