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I have a mixture of flat slate, coral sand and some gravel. To be honest he spends most of his time in his drain pipes which are smooth inside and out. He comes out for feeding but its like a smash and grab. He whisks all his food back into his pipe.

That would count as Normal Syno behaviour in my book - they aren't the most outgoing characters, and only come out for a quick bite and then back into hiding again.

I'm sure the gravel isn't causing problems with this fish. If you have small/digging fish or fish that like to hide in the substrate, then you would be better off with sand.

If you LIKE to have sand, then by all means change it. But there is no need to change it for the same of this particular fish.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:- they aren't the most outgoing characters, and only come out for a quick bite and then back into hiding again. --Mats

Hmmm - i wouldn't say this is a blanket comment but rather mostly true -on occasions some synos can be bold as brass, all the time, lights on etc - it does definately depend on several factors - set-up & species being most important

Yes, of course. But it's more the exception than the rule that they spend time out in the open.

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Mats

Thanks for the input. I think I'll just stick with the gravel/sand and slate as it is for now. I don't have any other bottom feeders because I tried that and he massacred them!! A lesson learned. He also killed 5 neons over night once. My fault again. All i found were some bits of bodies!. He does spend some time out with his pipes but its usually when he's hungry. I feed him on flake and bloodworm. Is there anything else he would appreciate? I've tried lettuce and cucumber but all he wants to do is play with it.

Yes, I would expect "meaty" food such as bloodworms and common flake/granule food is what I'd expect it to prefer. <Self-promotion>I wrote an article on feeding plecos, which discusses various "Home made" food for plecos. The foods as such are suitable for almost any fish - may need to be chopped/cut down to suit, but it may give you some ideas for "supermarket" fish-food. Try a few things, see what the fish thinks... The article is linked at the right of this post, where it says Articles (2) </Self Promotion>

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Mats

Thats really interesting!! I also have 3 plecos. They're all common run of the mill and they love tomatoes, peas, courgette, cucumber, sweet potato and if they get the chance baked potato. I say get the chance because I have a tin foil barb who has hollow legs (if he had legs!) Actually can you tell me if you can get leucistic common plecos because that's what I THINK he is?

Yes, common plecos come in "leucistic" or "amelanistic" forms, as well as some other colour variants, and of course the normal "brown pattern".

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Mats

Thank you for that. Haven't seen any apart from this one but then i again they're all pleco's i've taken in for one reason or another. The one in the picture came because his tank burst!! Was meant to be temporary 4 months ago. Hmph. LOL

For feeding the syno you could try green beans, peas, lentils or other pulses, earthworms, flies, beetles, woodlice, crabmeat, lobster, shrimp, prawn, mussell or oyster

i shall try most of them. The swimming side plate (tin foil barb) steals everything. 6 algae tablets at once for instance. Not sure about the worms or slaters (woodlice) as i.m a big beastie and bug fan. I know its madness. Would you advise part cooking sweet or normal potato? I also have a big bit of root in the tank which the cream one adores. Would he be better with driftwood? Any further ideas on my syno while you.re here?

I think if you try JBL Novo Pleco XL tablets, your tin foil barbs will not be able to chew up the whole algae wafer. And at least your big pleco will be able to chew one of those down pretty quickly. It also helps to feed most catfish in the dark.

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Mats

he swallows them whole . Flips them about til they are in the right position, vertical, and they.re gone! I.ll google those tablets tomorrow but even if they.re hard tablets he'll still swoop on them.

The JBL ones are about the size of a 20p piece (but not 7-sided, they are circular). Unless your tin foil barbs are VERY large [and yes, I know they grow large], they shouldn't be able to gulp those down.

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Mats

well i.ll look them up tomorrow. Still no thoughts on the syno? Got another photo tonight so i.m on a roll lol

have sourced them and bought some on line. The packet looks familiar so i think i may have tried them before. The TFB isn't overly massive. Just side plate size. Hubby describes him as bbq size

can we say for definite what he is then? Thanks for reading.

can we say for definite what he is then? Thanks for reading.

Are you talking about the syno or the pleco?

If the syno than I stick with my previous choice for the reasons stated.

Birger

gonnaenodaethat wrote:can we say for definite what he is then? Thanks for reading.

The Syno or the Pleco? The Pleco, I'm 100% sure that it's a - it gets harder when it's lacking it's natural colour to say WHICH species it is. It is highly likely that it is or - [1] I can pretty much rule out several other species - it's not P. gibbiceps or P. scrophus, and it's most likely [99% certain] a captive bred fish which rules out most, if not all, of the other species we have listed.

As to the Syno, I'm not sure we can get a much better answer than what Birger gives, unless Sidguppy or Richard B disagrees with that...

[1] I don't feel at all bad at not being able to tell the difference on these, as even Jon Armbruster can not always say for certain [and that is on fish that are "normal colour"]. Jon is one of the world-leading experts on Loricariidae, and has a list on his personal web-page 32 papers describing new species or revising/redescribing existing species - he's not the main author on all of them, but on many. That beats 12000 forum posts by some margin... ;)

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Mats

ah sorry. Yeah i meant the cat fish. The plec is what i suspected he was. I.m very happy to at last have a name for the cat fish i.ll need to learn to say it. I.m a bit sad that he's maybe wild caught but he's got a good life in my tank where he is the boss. Thank you so much. Your knowledge is amazing. The feeding tips will also come in very handy. Once again. Thanks. Ann.

one more question sorry. Will he grow any more? He's been 5" since i got him so i presume not. Looks like he's been stunted before he came here.

gonnaenodaethat wrote:I.m a bit sad that he's maybe wild caught but he's got a good life in my tank where he is the boss.

I do agree in some respect, but I've come to the opinion that it's actually BETTER for the natural future of the fishes that they are wild-caught than captive bred in a vast majority of cases. There are exceptions where the fish are caught for the aquatic trade and that actually threatens the wild population, but for 99.8% of all fishes that we see in the trade, the wild-caught fish is a very small dent in the natural population, and the MUCH bigger threat is man interfering with the natural habitat. Now, if the native population can catch fish and ship them to us here in Europe (or North America, Australia, or wherever it may be), then the water and it's inhabitants have some value. Most fish for the aquatic trade aren't really great food fish (they are often too small), so the only real value is as ornamental fish. If they can't sell the fish to us, then they probably still want some money, and will take up other ways of making money - digging for gold, chopping down forest, or some such - and even if they do this ANYWAYS, at least if the rivers bring some income, they may think twice about killing that source of income.

It obviously doesn't stop projects like the Hydroelectric Power dam in Belo Monte on River Xingu that has recently been approved by the Brazil government. The local population is against this dam for any number of reasons (probably not so much that it's going to kill the fish, but that it will "drown" their villages). But the fact that the fish are valuable as income from this river is certainly not making the local population any more for the dam! And don't even think that the local population will benefit from "having electricity" - yes they may, but you don't need nearly as big a power-plant for that. The purpose is to allow aluminium production, which is being exported to Europe, the US, etc).

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Mats

mats i.ve read about that project in brazil and wonder who will benefit most. Not the wildlife or local people i don't think. your point about wild caught fish is very interesting and certainly not how i.ve thought about it before. Don't feel so guilty now.

one more question sorry. Will he grow any more? He's been 5" since i got him so i presume not. Looks like he's been stunted before he came here.

Fish do not always grow to the max stated and many times it is a female that will grow bigger or as you say previous conditions may have affected it's growth...if your fish is this size for the last five years than I would think any more growth would be minimal, it could get thicker but he certainly is in great shape except for the damaged dorsal.

Birger

i know. Its such a shame about it. I.ve looked on the internet for pictures of fish like him to see what his fin should look like but have only found drawings. Maybe i should photoshop him! Only kidding. I.ve enjoyed reading all your posts and i'd like to think i know a little more about my little grumpy syno. Ann

another 2 photos.

Bringing this old thread up to let you know that 6 years later the now 23 year old synodontis is still thriving. He has moved house with me and while we were doing that we changed from gravel to sand and I wish I'd done it years ago. Anyway alls well and I'm delighted to still have this extrovert of a little syno.

Excellent to hear it is doing well.

Hehe I just heard of some Synodontis that someone in Finland has kept for 37 years...you might have a few years with your fish yet.

Birger

Wow. Impressive update. Post pics, if you will, please.

I'll try and get photos at the weekend. He's still camera shy.

37! Then I'll definitely have to leave him in my will to somebody haha