Synodontis?

[johnpeezy]

Has anyone ever had any experience introducing these little guys into a tank of juvinle malawies? specifficaly Synodontis njassae

I have a few hap's some zebras and psudeotropious ornatus x2

[mostlycichlids]

Synodontis are great tankmates along with Malawis.

[johnpeezy]

have you ever had any troubles with cichlids trying to kill them?

[Riverfishgirl]

Originally Posted by johnpeezy

have you ever had any troubles with cichlids trying to kill them?

Synodontis have nasty tempers around their territory and spines, it's not real likely. Another fish won't usually mess with them more than once. My husband used to have a Synodontis angelicus with big south american cichlids for that matter, they worked just fine. Usually synodontis cats will take over a hiding spot and defend it aggressively if another fish tries to take it over.

[mostlycichlids]

I agree with riverfishgirl I have 5 Synodontis featherfins with my South Americans a couple of my cichlids are 11inches or so they don't mess with the synodontis. I also used to keep them in my Malawi tank with no problems most of them were Adults.

[joephys]

Synodontis, kind of sounds like a gum disease to me.

[johnpeezy]

How many do you think I would need for a food clean up crew in a 55 gallon Tall its 36" long about 15" wide (I know the 36" is right but I'm guessing on the 15" part) I was thinking like 3 does that sound about right, there pretty steep in price at my LFS so i can't afford very many

[RTR]

For the medium synodontids, that tank could handle one, barely. Fot the small ones, more, maybe. For the larger ones, none would fit IMHO & IME.

What is this with Cichlid folk dumping on Synodontis?. if there is any group in the hobby willing to take and handle fish as their nature dictates, it should be the Cichlid folk. There are multiple groups of fish requiring or at least needing some knowledge or at least basic information on their natures before they are successfully kept.

I have kept a number of Synodontis and their close kin - I have three late teenagers from that group at the moment. I have never kept any of them as a scavenger, nor am I likely to ever do so.

[Trixie]

Originally Posted by joephys

Synodontis, kind of sounds like a gum disease to me.

[johnpeezy]

Since Synodontis don't seem to be right is there something else that would work with my Malawies? All I really need is something that will eat the food on the bottom that doesn't get eaten right away. I do want to try and avoid the crabs from the lake.

[zippo]

The best thing is NOT to overfeed the buggers. Then you'll not need anything to scrounge the bottom.

[johnpeezy]

Well I don't really over feed they just kind of swallow the pellets break em apart and filter them through there gills, there kind of messy eaters I have noticed

[sarcare]

I know the perfect thing--it is called a python and it will get rid of all the excess food and is pretty much the only thing that will also consume fish poop too!

[Trixie]

One of the things that I find myself recommending to people that come into the store looking for a fish/snail/creature to clean the bottom of the tank/eat algae is that they not add to the bioload in their quest to keep the tank cleaner.
Stocking your tanks very slowly will give you time to do lots of research on which creatures will be best for your various set-ups and will have the added benefit of letting the "good bacteria" colonize at a rate that won't stress out the creatures that you have in there already.

[johnpeezy]

Yeah I have a python, and have been stocking my 4 tanks slowly

out of my 4 tanks, 14 gallon 20 gallon 3 gallon and 55 gallon, the only incomplete one is the 55 I have a variety of color in there but not a variety of fish just cichlids. We almost have all the cichlids we wnat to get and would like to maximise the use of our fish tank. Most of the cichlids we have stay around mid/top level of the tank unless the messing around in the rocks so rainbow fish aren't a really good choice, I wanted to get some sort of bottom dwellinlg "thing". So far all I know of that are capable of being housed with cichlids are Synodontis, crabs form tanginika, and rainbow fish (F/W clams possibly??). Its not like my GF and I are doing no research on what were placing in our tanks, I'm looking for a logical step in the right direction to focus my research on, I really have no Idea what type of bottom dwelling type of guy I could possibly even look into. I talked to TTA via private message and a pleco is out of the question as well.

so here is exactly what I'm looking for a bottom dwellinlg fish (invert??), that will not try to kill my cichlids, that is accustomed to living with cichlids(malawie) in the wild, and has the same style of water parameters and agin I don't even know if such a creature exists that I can accomidate in a 55 gallon

[sarcare]

You could get some kind of shellie, if what you want is a fish that lives near the bottom. Many are quite small and might be snacks, but they are fun and live on the bottom of the tank, and are from Africa and are accustomed to hard water. My shellies are pretty tough, but are so small they would have a hard time defending themselves against anything much bigger.

[mostlycichlids]

If you are gonna go with Synodontis cats you could get 3 Syno. Petricola they only get 4inches max and would do a good job of not creating a ton of waste and keep the bottom clean.

[Lobo.]

The only synodontis that I kept turned out to be a wimp for some reason....

he had to stay in the community tank where he didn't even mess with the neons, but he was a weird one

great fish, but if you get one and set up the tank right, you will never see it as they are very nocturnal and love good cave setups

[mostlycichlids]

Originally Posted by Lobo.

The only synodontis that I kept turned out to be a wimp for some reason....

he had to stay in the community tank where he didn't even mess with the neons, but he was a weird one

great fish, but if you get one and set up the tank right, you will never see it as they are very nocturnal and love good cave setups

I'd have to disagree mine are out all day long swimming and chasing each other. I put them in a smaller tank though for a few days and they hid and didn't like it. They definatley like their space.

[wesleydnunder]

I agree with Paul on the petricolas. Multipunctatus is another that stays relatively small and can hold its own with the cichlids. I think two or three would be ok in a 55.

Mark