How do I make my Syno eupterus be more active?? He seems to be only active the exact moment the lights are out. Is there any othere way for him to come out or he is purely nocturnal?

And oh, does he eat algae like a pleco?

Thanx.

Thats the trouble with most cats,they are mainly nocturnal,some so nocturnal that if you dont feed them at night theyll starve themselves to death.
How big is your syno and what tankmates does it have?It may start to come out more as it grows and feels more comfortable with its surroundings,the feather fins (eupterus) are one of the less shy synos.
Although they will scrape algea from rocks and wood this is not enough for them to survive on,unlike plecs they are not strict veggie eaters and require meaty foods like bloodworms and catfish pellets in their diet.

I know exactly how you feel revengeishere. My featherfin hids at the top of the tank, behind the return from my HOB filter. Either that or his cave. I NEVER see him. Mine is only 2" at best. I only have him in there with a gold gourami and pleco. I usually feed them after lights out with a bit of shrimp pellets and half an spirolina disc. The food is gone in the morning and hes been alive for a month or more, so he must be eating ok

He is about 3 inches in length, and he resides in a 75 g tank, with 10 tiger babrs, 20 zebra danios, a flying fox a red tailed black shark and two bala shark. Might have to get rid of the danios or just let them stay there and just have them eaen once the fishes got bigger). I do feed him a shrimp pellet or two.

RIH

Whats going to eat the danios? Nothing on that list is predatory,sounds like a nice little community.

Really?? I thougth the bala would eat them or the synos will. The guy at the pet shop told me this, and i was considering giving the danios a separate tank. But im not really into small fishes(no offense), and i have been wanted to get rid of them or donate them back and get 2 small plecos that eat algae(brittle nose?). But i kinda like em now.

The balas are some of the most peaceful fish going,even when full grown at 13" the only fish they would eat would be tiny fry and the RTB and S.eupterus may be aggressive but they too will only eat the tiniest of fish,they are not natural piscavors.
Your danios will be fine,they get to about 2" and are very quick so unless you put any true piscavores in your tank their going to live a long happy life.

BTW dont worry about offending me by not liking small fish,most of what i keep would eat all the danios in one sittting and wonder where the next meal was coming from I throw up to 20 danios or guppies in the tank as food once every two weeks.

Im so glad to know they wont eat the danios! Ive grown pretty fond of them.

thanx. Do you think i could still buy a small plceo or two? prolly one not exceeding 6 inches in lenght? Im still worried the RTB would be aggresive to it.

So far, my RTB did a great job of clearing out the black algaes growing on my slow growing plants(i forgot what they were, brush?) but i read that as he grows older, he'll be less inclined to eat algaes off of my tank...

again, thank you.

edit:sorry, so many typos, i was half asleep...

This post has been edited by revengeishere: Jul 26 2003, 08:08 AM

When you buy the plec change things around in the tank before releasing it,this way all the fish will need to find new homes and establish new territories together so the RTB will be to busy to bother the new plec.

thanx. My RTB is pretty peaceful, he lives in the same cave as my syno! He hasnt chased any other fish, and there is no sign of fighting the syno. I still need to look out for him tho as i know that as he grows older, she will get more aggresive.

edit: oh, he also comes out during bright light hours, and not shy at all:-)

This post has been edited by revengeishere: Jul 26 2003, 08:10 AM