Got My First Catfish

[Robris]

Hi everyone I got my first catfish in my malawi 55gal tank. Its a Synodontis Eupterus. Anyone have or seen any of these? are they easy to keep?

My lfs guy said that they are from africa and will go perfect in my tank. He is only about 3cm and as soon as I let him out a few of my bigger fish had tried biting my a few times although he seems fine now because he found a small hole in one of my rocks that only he can fit into.

I bought some Algea Wafers for him, anyways is there any advice I should take with this fish? I wanted to get a Pleco but they didnt have any left.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Did you research the fish prior to getting it?

They grow to very large in comparison to most Synos...(no the decorus though). Going by the amount of fish you have in the 55 gallon it seems to me overstocked past the general rule of thumb of overstocking african tanks to spread out aggression. The eupterus grows large, they can be highly aggressive and disruptive if you get a bad one and also they will generally eat anything it wants to eat....I will note that they grow amazingly quick...

Hope that helps

 

[WaterBender1995]

my advice, give it back, trade it, sell it what ever you need to do but with that Hodgepodge mix you already have in there...adding a syno of that potential size and aggression is not smart at all.
stop buying fish and let the ones you have mature!


some info for you to read:
syno info

 

[Robris]

Did you research the fish prior to getting it?

They grow to very large in comparison to most Synos...(no the decorus though). Going by the amount of fish you have in the 55 gallon it seems to me overstocked past the general rule of thumb of overstocking african tanks to spread out aggression. The eupterus grows large, they can be highly aggressive and disruptive if you get a bad one and also they will generally eat anything it wants to eat....I will note that they grow amazingly quick...

Hope that helps

I only have 10 cichlids in a 55gal, how is that overstocked? espcially for africans. And im getting rid of some of the fish in my list as I was only using them to cycle the tank. And before you get all jumpy with me for doing a fish cycle, I tried everywhere!!!!!!!!! to get ammonia and water but couldnt find it, only ones with surfuctants so I had no other choice.

Oh and all the fish are small except 2 which are medium sized.

 

[WaterBender1995]

I dont think your over stocked at all but I do worry about those venustus, their gonna get beefy!
still the catfish should go though and as for using fish to cycle. I dont have any problems with it.

 

[Robris]

I dont think your over stocked at all but I do worry about those venustus, their gonna get beefy!
still the catfish should go though and as for using fish to cycle. I dont have any problems with it.

I'll prob get rid of the catfish, although i do want some sort of catfish in there eventually. As for the venustus, the two I have at the moment are so cool because they NEVER seperate, its awsome I have never seen them go in opposite directions, they are always following each other. They are small juvs at the moment but jeez do they eat alot! They are very gutsy and try to eat all the pellets before the other fish. I hope they dont outgrow the tank, I have seen grown ones at my lfs and the dont seem to much bigger than other grown mbuna.

 

[WaterBender1995]

Oh they'll out grow the tank alright! (adult 8-10 inches) especially if you keep all your other fish in there too!
You have a while thought to decide if you want to keep the others or (what I would do is ditch the rest and concentrate on the Haps. (their in the Haplochromine family not mbuna) because the beauty of these fish is amazing not to mention if given the space their hunting technic is something to behold!!
I've seen a huge male in hunting mode and I still regret not having a camera so I could prove to people what I'm talking about!!

Think about the future (a year or two) down the line and think about getting a 125 gallon tank to give these guys their fair share!
things that make you go Hmmmmm