Synodontis Vs Bristlenose

[locust267]

I'm setting up a malawi cichlid tank, 260l and would like to know which of these would fit in best?

How do they compare in terms of local availability and price, and also how many of each would I need.

My tank is processing 4ppm ammonia in 12 hours and Nitrite in 24 hours and I'll be upping to 5ppm tomorrow, so I'm hoping within two weeks I may be ready for fish. I was either going to add six electric yellows or the catfish first.

Many Thanks

 

[xingumike]

I'm setting up a malawi cichlid tank, 260l and would like to know which of these would fit in best?

Well Synos are African and Ancistrus are South American, for me a Malawi tank would lend it self to Synos, a multipunctatus or something if that ilk.

also how many of each would I need.

To achieve what?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Rift Valley Synodontis are quite social, so a group of four or five would work well.

I was under the impression that for Rift Valley stockings, it is far better to add all the planned cichlids in one go, rather than having the added chore of completely rescaping the rockscape each time new cichlids are added.

 

[locust267]

I'm setting up a malawi cichlid tank, 260l and would like to know which of these would fit in best?

Well Synos are African and Ancistrus are South American, for me a Malawi tank would lend it self to Synos, a multipunctatus or something if that ilk.

also how many of each would I need.

To achieve what?

In terms of keeping them happy. How many should I be putting in a group?

Rift Valley Synodontis are quite social, so a group of four or five would work well.

I was under the impression that for Rift Valley stockings, it is far better to add all the planned cichlids in one go, rather than having the added chore of completely rescaping the rockscape each time new cichlids are added.

Thanks for that, are they quite easy to get in most LFS?

I keep reading/hearing conflicting advice, I thought as long as you added all of the same fish at the same time you would be OK i.e I'll be adding 6 electric yellow and that will be all of them, I will then add a completely different colour fish in a group of six or so. I've been told as long as they dont look similar, they wont affect the current groupings?

 

[xingumike]

^ for the species I suggested I think a group of 3-5 is recommended although Lori's are my forte so someone with more of an interest in African cats may guide you better.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

"elisew" (who has both a Malawi and Tanganyikan tank) and "Nelly" are both located in the Bournemouth area and might be able to tell you about any stores closer to you that have Rift Valley catfish, but in Southampton the best source for catfish that I know of are Aquajardin in Fairoak (not been "fish window shopping" for a while so no idea what they have now). Synodontis multipunctata and petricola are relatively common to see in the shops, but there are an awful lot more species out there...

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/search_result.php?distr_id=359&order=species&results=100

As for your cichlid stocking dilemma, it would be best to start a seperate thread in the Old World Cichlid section, to get advice from experienced keepers. My limited understanding is that newly intorduced cichlids stand very little chance of settling into an established layout.

 

[locust267]

"elisew" (who has both a Malawi and Tanganyikan tank) and "Nelly" are both located in the Bournemouth area and might be able to tell you about any stores closer to you that have Rift Valley catfish, but in Southampton the best source for catfish that I know of are Aquajardin in Fairoak (not been "fish window shopping" for a while so no idea what they have now). Synodontis multipunctata and petricola are relatively common to see in the shops, but there are an awful lot more species out there...

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/search_result.php?distr_id=359&order=species&results=100

As for your cichlid stocking dilemma, it would be best to start a seperate thread in the Old World Cichlid section, to get advice from experienced keepers. My limited understanding is that newly intorduced cichlids stand very little chance of settling into an established layout.

Thanks again, came back from window shopping today and they had plenty of BN's but the only syno they had were eupterus... Does anyone have any experience of these? They were labelled at £4 each so not sure what thats like. BN's were £5 each.

Cheers

 

[Mystil]

My experience is that Synos are anti social things that only come out at night when all the lights are turned off. I have 8 of them and hardly see them at all, although I do have a big tank.

The bristlenose are out all the time and they keep the algae down aswell.

 

[BPB]

I have had a eupterus for about a year now. I bought him when he was only about an inch long, very tiny and cute, now he is pretty large, about 6" or so and very stocky. It took months before he would come out of hiding. I thought he was dead and eaten for a while. Now that he is the biggest fish in the tank, he cruises around when the lights are on, and even begs for food on occasion. Provide them with a cave to hide in and they will be happy. Great looking fish though. Their dorsal fin can get almost as tall as they are long.

 

[neil@northantsmalawis]

I have around 5 different types of synos, and they tend to be very placid especially the multipuctatus, lucipinis, petricola, polli whites etc. the more aggressive ones are the angelicus but even then there not that bad. Synos are best kept in groups of at least 5. They are much more confident in big groups and more likely to expose themselfs. The only synodontis to come from lake malawi is the nyassi. The others are tanganyikan which are still african rifts. The eupterus Vicki grow quite big (10") and get very fat (very friendly though). These are one of the big synos as most of them tend to only grow to around 3-4".

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

My experience is that Synos are anti social things that only come out at night when all the lights are turned off. I have 8 of them and hardly see them at all, although I do have a big tank.

The bristlenose are out all the time and they keep the algae down aswell.

This is a fair commenfor most synost, but multipunctiatus are well know as 'active' and i always see at least half of my group out and about in the main tank, very interesting fish