Upside Down Catfish

[bazzbeen]

I recently had a upside down catfish,it lived for a couple of year then died,i went to order another from my lfs,he said hed order one for me, a week passed and when i nxt went in,he said he wasnt sure weather to get a true or false catfish for me, which baffled me,as im not sure which 1 it was and dont want order the wrong species incase it bullys other fish in the tank,can anyone advice me on the two!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Lets get the continent right first, Asian (Mystus leucophasis) or African (Synodontis spp.)? The Mystus is a lovely looking catfish (jet black with few flecks of white/silver on flank), but is very fiesty and predatory on smaller fish normally, reaches ~30cm easily.

If it is African, as is normally the case, then we are down to...
Synodontis nigriventris (social syno; very nocturnal; can be coaxed into using broad leafy plants as roosts; will eat from surface; spends 90+% upside down; typically reaches 6-7cm SL)
Synodontis contracta (as above but less common; 5-6cm SL; has a more bug-eyed appearance)
Synodontis nigrita (often missold as S. nigriventris; far less social and can be nasty pieces of work; spends more time the right way up; can reach over 15cm)

 

[MBOU]

Not to mention a LOT of shops refer to Synodontis eupterus as "upside down catfish" too and they get considerably larger and are considerably more common... (or hybrids anyway)