African Featherfin Catfish

[67chevelle]

I have seen them at the LFS a few times and they look like cool fish.
Does,or has anyone kept them.How is thier temperment?How big do they get?What are good tank mates for them?

[Chrisinator]

African Featherfin Catfish/Synodontis (Synodontis eupterus) grows to about 6inches. Closely related to Upside Down Catfish and are peaceful fish. It says that they are fine with smaller tankmates but I'd watch out for Dwarf Cories if you have them so they dont' become snacks. Any shrimp inverts should be out of the question.

[67chevelle]

6 inches. I wonder if a senegal bichir would eat them.

[Chrisinator]

Would 6 inches fit in the bichers mouth? It will eat them if they are small though.


(TWSS moment)

[andyjs]

They would be fine with a senegal. I have a Syno. nigrita that is a very similar fish. He doesn't really like my plecos and loaches when they try to get into his hiding places, but all he does is push. He never actually hurts anyone

[sCeRaXn]

Mine would get pretty aggressive with other bottom dwellers...especially plecos. He was a pretty peaceful fish overall though...just didnt like people invading his space lol

[67chevelle]

So they don't need to be kept in schools?

[andyjs]

So they don't need to be kept in schools?

Some smaller synos like upside-downs and petricola will school, but I think featherfins would just fight

[toddnbecka]

I had an ornate bicher that chowed down several small eupterus. I thought the spines would protect them, the bicher didn't care. As long as the Syno is too large for the bicher to eat they're fine together. The eupterus do grow quickly; I brought home a small one (~1.5") about 4 months ago, it's now 5-6" long. They do well with most cichlids ot other fish too large to eat. They're not particularly aggressive but are able to hold their own territory. They can be kept in groups if the tank is large enough, actually that's how the few aquarium spawning have occured. However, they aren't a social fish like petricola's or multi's.

[67chevelle]

Cool.
Thanks for all the info guys.

[ksane]

My 2 are super territorial, I have to keep them in seperate tanks so I'd say 'no' to the schooling idea. I read on a few websites that said to keep them in groups and that always makes me laugh. Because everyone who owns them says their's are territorial. They grow super fast, like an inch a month. And they're fat-bellied like a typical catfish. I really like mine a lot. A lot lot lot! I wouldn't put them with anything but the more ornery of bottom fish....Blue Loaches come to mind.

[toddnbecka]

Synodontis are similar to African cichlids like demasoni and Tropheus regarding conspecific aggression. If you keep 2-3, the strongest fish will tear up the weaker fish. If you keep a group the aggression gets spread around enough that none are killed.

[hollyfish2000]

Eupterus get much larger than 6". My LFS has quite a few on trade-in as they've outgrown tanks. They are a solid 8", so something to consider.

They don't like friends very much.

The post about synodontis having conspecific aggressive is only partly true. Synodontis multipunctatus and petricola/lucippinis, for example, prefer to be in schools and are very peaceful with each other IME. . .

[Carp37]

I agree on size- my solitary featherfin is just over 6" SL, so about 8" total length- they get very fat and are greedier than any other catfish I've kept.

She's almost impossible to photograph properly, but you get the idea of girth on her (apologies for seriously dirty tank glass):

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/carp37/Syno8Jun08.jpg
(after about 16 months- looking positively thin)

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/carp37/syno15-09-09.jpg
(after about 28 months- looking pretty hefty)

She's very peaceful with other types of fish, but I wouldn't trust her with anything tiny.