Cuckoo Catfish (Synodontis multipunctata)

[gwand30 146]

I was thinking of getting a Cuckoo Catfish (Synodontis multipunctata) for my 60 gallon Lake Tanganyika tank. I have never owned a catfish. Any suggestions for how I optimize their care?

 

[Fishmanic30 146]

Be aware that cuckoo catfish can be very expensive fish to keep. They require regular visits to a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

 

[GaryE29 144]

I don't like "a" with that fish. I know people who have kept them (I haven't) and they are social fish, best kept in groups. They're cool to watch and the breeding is amazing to read about. Smart strategy there. But in a group, they are just large enough to challenge the water quality in a lot of set up tanks.

 

[anewbie1]

I was thinking of getting a Cuckoo Catfish (Synodontis multipunctata) for my 60 gallon Lake Tanganyika tank. I have never owned a catfish. Any suggestions for how I optimize their care?

You have never owned a catfish? No pleco, cory, oto, whiptail, ..... wow i'm socked. I know nothing about cuckoo but a quick google search:

Probably too large for a group in such a small aquarium (but gary said this); oh well at least there are softwater synodontis that are much smaller and very peaceful. something to consider if you ever replace the water with something softer.

 

[gwand30 146]

You have never owned a catfish? No pleco, cory, oto, whiptail, ..... wow i'm socked. I know nothing about cuckoo but a quick google search:

Probably too large for a group in such a small aquarium (but gary said this); oh well at least there are softwater synodontis that are much smaller and very peaceful. something to consider if you ever replace the water with something softer.

To be honest I have 10 Pygmy Cory in a black water nano tank with B. brigittae.

 

[GaryE29 144]

I just took a look at Seriously Fish for cuckoos, and they suggest a lone one will rarely be seen.

I get the attraction. The Synodontis group are really interesting fish. Hard water, soft water - there's a species for every set of conditions. When I stayed in Gabon, there was a river across the road from our shabby little hotel, and a Synodontis species would graze the edges of a dock in groups of five or six. They were beautiful, active fish about 4 inches in length, but what species and what eventual size I don't know.

Wherever we saw them, or other Synodontis, they were in groups in wider rivers or lakes, and never in brooks. It would seem the Tanganyika one lives similarly.

I think I may have to go for reincarnation to be able to keep all the fish that make me say "wow". If I had large tanks, at least one Synodontis species would be in there. I don't do it because this incarnation of me has too small aquariums.

 

[gwand30 146]

There is also a dwarf catfish that looks like S. multipunctata called S. petricola. It is also endemic to lake Tanganyika. It supposedly grows to about 4.5 inches. I saw that some call it the false cuckoo or the leopard cuckoo.