New Addition. Compatible?

[Snake42490]

Hey guys yesterday a friend of mine gave me his Synondontis Eupterus.. right now he is in my 20 gallon breeding tank lol.. which is empty atm. will i be able to move him into my 55 gallon?

55 gallon

4 Red Zebra

4 Yellow Labs

4 Kennyi

6 Synodontis Petricola

would he be fine in that tank? and also get along with my petros?

my petricola are babies still.. maybe inch and a half and he is 2 and a half 3 inches. so just thoughts.

do i have enough room to add him or should i rehome him?

Filtration

Xp3
Aquel Unimax pro 250 uv canister
penquin 100

 

[nukeonekitty]

I think he will be fine. Just make sure you watch him with the other syno cats.

 

[Snake42490]

should i keep him in the other tank for a while and qt him like my other fish before adding? also should i eventually find him a buddy of his own. is having him in the tank over stocking it to much? and last but not least haha which of the synos would be the problem? thanks seth sorry for all the questions.. want to make sure im doing the right thing.

 

[Ferris]

Eupterus can be kept on their own or in groups so you shouldn't have a problem with just the one. They are pretty tough catfish and should be fine with the Mbuna and Petricola.

I have 2 Eupterus in my Mbuna tank and they have been in there since they were babies - never had a problem. IMO they are one of the best catfish for Mbuna tanks as they are get quite large and can take care of themselves.

My only concern would be that you are pushing the stocking levels of the tank. Your filtration is good but you may need to increase it further as the fish reach adulthood.

 

[Snake42490]

what would you recommend for the final bit of filtration to the tank? i dont want to get to much current in there. i had to turn the xp3 down other wise the fish get blown around. i would say the fish in the tank are from 1 inch - 2 the new syno will be the biggest hands down. should i still QT him in the 20 gallon before putting him in or should i just stick him in and let him get used to the big tank? its a very healthy looking fish. but its never bad to just wait and see. thanks for answering my questions though. Seth

 

[Ferris]

Eheim Ecco's are good filters and have a very low flow rate due to the smaller diameter pipes, indeed anything by Eheim is very good. The output from your filters will be best utilised at the top of the tank - the more surface movement created, the more oxygenated the water will be. It also doesn't matter so much if the current is strong at the surface as the fish in question will spend less time up there - i've never known Mbuna to have a problem with current either.

If the new Syno still looks fine after a couple of days, i'd personally add him/her to the main tank.

 

[Snake42490]

ok i think most of my questions are answered now haha. only two i can think of how many times do i want the tank turned over per hour? i know right now im turning my tank over just under 700 gallons per hour. so my tank is getting turned over almost 13 times per hour.. is that a good enough number? or does that not even matter? and second how often should i be cleaning my filters? and when i do how far apart should i schedule the two so i dont do them both at the same time? thanks

 

[Ferris]

10x and up is good, in fact 10x is probably the minimum for an overstocked Mbuna tank. Bear in mind that the figures quoted by the manufacturer's don't include filter media, which reduces the flow rate considerably. Your current level of filtration should actually be OK looking at those figures though.

I clean my filters roughly once every 3 months, basically when the flow rate has reduced, which indicates the filter is becoming clogged. All my tanks ar4e massively over-filtered, which means i have to clean them less often than most as the load is shared around.
I usually clean the media in tank water to avoid killing the bacteria, although every 6 months or so i completely blitz a filter, giving it a complete clean - I am able to do this because each tank has more than 1 filter and i can still maintain the bio-load even if the bacteria from one filter is occasionally removed.

 

[dthoffsett]

I clean my filters roughly once every 3 months, basically when the flow rate has reduced, which indicates the filter is becoming clogged. All my tanks ar4e massively over-filtered, which means i have to clean them less often than most as the load is shared around.
I usually clean the media in tank water to avoid killing the bacteria, although every 6 months or so i completely blitz a filter, giving it a complete clean - I am able to do this because each tank has more than 1 filter and i can still maintain the bio-load even if the bacteria from one filter is occasionally removed.

Same here.

 

[Snake42490]

well the syno is doing great. he is very interesting to watch. hes still yet a little shy but im sure he will open up a little more. hes really really fun to watch when my moonlights come on. he swims around the tank all night. its really cute to watch because my petricola like swarm him like its the mother of them. but everything is going well so far

http/s103.photobucket.com/albums/m144/Sn...nt=IMG_3164.jpg

http/s103.photobucket.com/albums/m144/Sn...nt=IMG_3172.jpg

 

[Snake42490]

just started a new thread since im kinda changing subjects.