# Help with my syno lucipinnis (cant get them to breed)...



## FTLOSM (Mar 20, 2007)

I have 17 synodontis lucipinnis catfish in my 75 gallon cichlid tank.

They are aprox 2 yrs old and the tank itself has some yellow labs in it (about 10) with 3 red shoulders.

I noticed one of the catfish yesterday is VERY fat, (hoping its full of eggs) so I started reading up more on how to get them to breed (my last attempts were months ago and nothing came of it so I gave up after a few months).

I have 2 bowl setups clear bowls, black marbles, flowerpots with holes in them for the catfish to "hopefully" go into and breed.

My questions are below (any other advice GREATLY appreciated).

First is this catfish full of eggs like I hope? If so how long do they hold the eggs before releasing them (hopefully with a mate in one of my caves!).










Second, are these cave/huts I am making correctly done? (I have 2)










What I am doing is swapping out the bowl daily looking for any eggs, then replacing that bowl with the 2nd bowl, so each day or two im putting in a fresh clean bowl. But so far all I get is some of the substrate (3m colorquartz) or a bit of the fish poop that settles down into the side areas of the bowl.

ZERO eggs 

But i do see that one BIG belly catfish in there and am hoping its a girl and she goes in and spawns with a male in one of these huts soon.

PH 8.1
temp 81
water changes regularly 
running 2 -aqua clear 110's on this one 75 gallon tank (plenty of filteration)
Blue lights are on 16 hrs a day (dark yet blue hue over everything), and the main light is on 8 hrs a day (both are on timers).

My labs reproduce often (i just let them spit in the tank at this point) I get a few that survive now and then but most are just eaten.

But I sure can't tell what I am doing wrong with the catfish, i see fat ones once in a while i get excited and setup these bowls for them to breed in, yet can't quite figure out what I am not doing to allow these guys to mate even once.

ANY suggestions or tips or help appreciated as this one I think is holding eggs in her belly should be doing something with them soon I hope in one of my caves!

I did post and ask at planetcatfish but got no replies so thought I would post here.

Bill


----------



## Barbie (Feb 13, 2003)

First, get a paper bag and breathe into it . Your Synos are probably only just now getting old enough to spawn. It can take weeks before they are comfortable enough with the new caves to spawn in them. I use the sponge filter uplift tube method when I spawn them. Live foods can help, a few extra water changes might also. Basically you just need to keep checking and realize the eggs are TINY. It took me months before mine started spawning.

You can also take the females out and really pour the rich foods to them for a few weeks. Then add the pots, wait a few days, then add the males. It should work wonders .

Barbie


----------



## FTLOSM (Mar 20, 2007)

Barbie,

Thanks for the reply!

I did try (unsuccessfully) to sex them once that was a joke they dont stay still!

I hope they take to the bowl cave i made eventually, that one that is swollen has eggs in her right? But the eggs arent fertilized till she spawns with a male correct?

Seems the swollen one just likes to hang out by the powerhead sponge, doesn't really do alot of exploring or mixing in with the others who all just rapidly run around the tank everywhere.

How long will that female hold those eggs before she ingests them or just drops them etc?

I guess with all the mating my other fish have done its frustrating to see these not having mated once yet, but as you said it might have just taken this long for them to mature enough to start even.

Am i being overly ambitious by swapping out the bowl daily? If i left the bowl in there and they did drop eggs would any live or do i have to dig in there and tumble the eggs right away?

I am feeding them some prime catfish foods recommended by a local shop, but nothing live at this point.

Bill


----------



## FTLOSM (Mar 20, 2007)

Barbie said:


> I use the sponge filter uplift tube method when I spawn them.
> Barbie


When you say you use a uplift tube method when you spawn them, do you mean you put the eggs into an uplift sponge tumbler type device (that you gather from a bowl type setup like I am using)?

(I do have sponge-based tube egg tumblers that I run off a small airpump to gently tumble my cichlid eggs)

Bill


----------



## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

You might find this article helpful: http://www.kwas.ca/Articles/Petricola.pdf


----------



## FTLOSM (Mar 20, 2007)

Wow that was a great article, sounds like Kevin went thru many months of trial and error, so i guess its not just me having trouble getting them to breed and keeping the eggs alive to have some fry as a result.

Will have to make some modifications and try a few new things here, maybe build a small eggcrate floor like Kevin did there, easier to see if any eggs are in base of bowl etc.

Hopefully oneday soon i can have at least one successful batch of fry from my cats here!

Bill


----------



## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Once you get them spawning, chances are they won't stop and you'll have hundreds of them. Syno's are very slow to mature, and like Barbie said, they *might* just be mature now, or maybe not even yet. They live a long time(over 20 years if taken care of), and do take time to get to breeding age.


----------



## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

I also read somewhere they dont like light...so u should replace that clear bowl... :thumb: 
I got 9 of them myself about 2 years old(couple are fat too)...thinking about making a love cave too... :wink:


----------



## Reims (Sep 23, 2008)

Bill took the effort to email me asking if I had any more suggestions for him & he provided a link to your forum. 
I hope he's ok that I'm copying my response to him below
If anyone has any questions or wants more details please shoot me an email & I'll do my best to respond & copy the contents to the apropriate location
Thanks again!
=====================

Hi Bill

I appreciate your email & Iâ€™ve done my best to provide more details below. 
Iâ€™m glad to hear Iâ€™ve given you a bit of inspiration as I understand the trials this objective brings.

Iâ€™m going to include the comments below to your thread after I register on the site.
Iâ€™m also a member of our clubs forum http://www.kwas.ca/forum/ as Reims however Iâ€™m very busy soâ€¦ If you have additional questions please let me know via email as I quite often donâ€™t have the time to scan all of the forums. Iâ€™ll do my best to respond in a timely manner.

Thanks! Kevin Reimer

How old were they when you got them? â€" they may take 3.5 yrs or more to reach maturity
> I found mine were swollen with eggs for some time until â€œitâ€


----------

