# Interested in breeding Synodontis Multipunctatus



## Habanero (Nov 20, 2013)

I have been doing some research on how to breed the Synodontis Multipunctatus catfish.

I purchased one which was just under 2" at the beginning of December 2013 and put it in my 125gal tank. That cat is now close to 4" and really healthy. So I would like to try breeding them. I am currently breeding Ethel's and Lethrinops successfully and have a breeding group of red fin Borleyis who have yet to produce for me (I have only had them for 6 weeks and lost a female for some unknown reason).

I have searched the internet and here is what I found so far:

1. These catfish are parasitic breeders, meaning they use breeding cichlids as hosts for their eggs.

2. It is very difficult to sex the catfish. I would be purchasing them at about 1.75in and I believe it would be near impossible to sex them at this size.

3. Some sources online state that the cuckoo catfish takes 3 years to reach sexual maturity.

4. The incubation time is approximately 48 hours from fertilization till the catfish hatches.

5. Once hatched, the fry will eat cichlid eggs or other smaller cuckoo eggs / fry if left in the cichlid buccal cavity, resulting in very small batches.

6. When this catfish spawns, the male / female pair will get involved with a cichlid pair who are actively spawning and other non spawning cuckoos will distract the cichlids to create confusion so the breeding cuckoos can place their eggs on the ground, fertilize them, and have the female cichlid pick them up. So it takes a group of cuckoos to make this work properly.

I have a 55 gal tank I want to use. It is a bottom tank (I stack two 55's with the Titan EZ stands) and the tank is not lit and has plenty of rocks and hiding places. This is also where I house my Borleyi group (who have not breed for me yet). The tank is fairly dark during the day and mostly undisturbed by human traffic (it's in my basement).

Here are my questions:

1. How long does it take for the synodontis Multipunctatus to become sexually mature? My local fish guy (who has been totally reliable and works for one of the most largest and well known online distributors of cichlids) told me they become sexually active at about the 2" size, but broods will be small and inconsistent (they breed these themselves in-house). This is very different information from the 3 year timeframe I find described online.

2. Is there any chance of sexing these catfish at the 1.75" to 2" size? It's easy for me to find them at this size, but I have only seen two for sale at the 3"+ sizes. If you cannot sex them this small, then should I just buy a whole bunch (like 6 or 7) and hope for some males and some females? (I can get them for about $15 if I buy a bunch of them).

3. Will the synodontis Multipunctatus ONLY breed by having a female cichlid hold the eggs? Are these catfish even capable of holding their own eggs, or will they ever just use substrate like other catfish?

4. Do breeders ever use egg tumblers for these? If so, how quickly do you strip the eggs from the cichlid, and then how long do you leave them in the tumbler until you release them into a fry tank?

5. How long does it take to get them from the egg to the 2" size, which would be the minimum size I would sell them at?

Thanks in advance for any support in helping me get into breeding these really cool catfish.


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## lorax84 (Feb 19, 2013)

I can't answer all of your questions, but I can tell you that a working breeding setup for S. Multipunctatus is difficult to achieve. You need a ground spawning mouthbrooder group and a good size tank. Even then, after a couple of spawns the cichlids get wise and will stop spawning. Things are further complicated by the fact that S. Multipunctatus have relatively small broods. So if you want to raise a good number of fry you usually need 3 or 4 tanks of mouthbrooders to rotate them through. You will probably need multiple 75 gallon tanks, each with a group of mouth brooders to give breeding these fish a good shot.


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## rafini (Mar 20, 2014)

I guess the important question that has to be asked here is, how succesful do you want the project to be?
are you planning on breeding them as an experiment and to document their behaviour and breeding success, or do you want to raise as many viable fry as possible as quickly as possible?

Because as Lorax84 said, the rotation of many set ups would yield the most fry.

However there is also the option of picking a fairly easy to breed cichlid and keep switching the pairs around every so many spawns. Either way long term success of breeding as many fry as possible will require more effort than most projects


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Agree with above... though folks have had the most success with non-Tanganyikan cichlids. You're looking for big dumb baby machines- I used Lake Victorian haps for my S. multies. I had a group of 5 cats in a 55gal, and my school of Vics bred regularly. I could tell the sex of my cats when the females were gravid, but never tried to vent them. Even though I saw the cats interfering with the Vic's breeding, I never got any viable cat fry. Lot's of Vics though, and they sold well at swap meets and auctions.

So, my best advice is to get at least 5, at what ever age you can get them at. Breed them with another species that you don't mind raising while you wait.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Well, I don't really have much answers... I never really have figured out what my group does, except that they are very active. Some fish beat up on others, they like to bite at the base of the dorsal fin for some reason. The females seem to be in charge of the pecking order, the males more chill? It's hard to figure out what they are up to and whether they are actually successful at swapping eggs.

They grow fast when young... they seem to slow down at 4". I don't think it takes years to get mature, but I would think at over 3". I think you can sex them as adults. It is probably hard to sex them as juveniles.

There are at least two types of Multipunctatus, which might be two species. If you are serious about breeding them, I would get a group of 6 or more wild caught, caught from the same location. Avoid the juveniles unless you really know where they came from.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

noki said:


> Well, I don't really have much answers... I never really have figured out what my group does, except that they are very active. Some fish beat up on others, they like to bite at the base of the dorsal fin for some reason. The females seem to be in charge of the pecking order, the males more chill? It's hard to figure out what they are up to and whether they are actually successful at swapping eggs.
> 
> They grow fast when young... they seem to slow down at 4". I don't think it takes years to get mature, but I would think at over 3". I think you can sex them as adults. It is probably hard to sex them as juveniles.
> 
> There are at least two types of Multipunctatus, which might be two species. If you are serious about breeding them, I would get a group of 6 or more wild caught, caught from the same location. Avoid the juveniles unless you really know where they came from.


+1. I had good luck with Syno Multies in a mbuna tank, but not in large quantities.


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## Habanero (Nov 20, 2013)

Thanks for the great responses. I am still interested in breeding these guys, but I think I will do more research. I want to make sure I am deliberate about the process, rather than just sticking some in a tank with a hap breeding group, and then getting frustrated when they don't spawn, or the fry eats each other. Definitely want to do these in the future though.


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