# Synodontis question



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Hey all...

I have a standard 20 long, growing out calvus and a group of syno lucipinnis for about 6 months. I noticed today, for the first time one of the cats kind of attached to a calvus for a very brief moment. I have since witnessed it a few times and can't tell if it's the same cat. It appears as if it's sucking the slime coat off the calvus. I searched the forum but only came back with CAEs as the usual culprits of this.

Any ideas/thoughts? I do have a hospital tank up and running if I need to separate. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Not seen this myself but then my A.calvus and S.lucipinnis are in a 6 foot tank.
For sure think A.calvus grow slower with S.lucipinnis. This maybe one reason why.

All the best James


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

My synodontis do seem to occasionally slide over the other fish and "mouth" them but I've never had the impression of a momentary attachment.

I would not separate. The calvus have those razor scales and of all your fish they are probably safest from any injury.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out and make sure it doesn't excel into anything greater.

And yes James, the calvus are growing slower than the cats. Slow growing was an understatement.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

My Lucipinnis almost seem to be cleaning my Frontosa. I've been trying to video it.


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## Bertz (Dec 7, 2011)

I've seen pleco's doing this on many fish, The multi's i had never did this.

But from what i've read and heard, Do not if possible allow them to do this it can cause a breach in the fishes body slim, Which may cause issues for the fishes health long term.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Thanks. I'll keep an eye out and make sure it doesn't excel into anything greater.
> 
> And yes James, the calvus are growing slower than the cats. Slow growing was an understatement.


Very true.
But my idea from mine is the calvus grow slower when kept with Synodontis.
My guess is they keep the calvus awake at night unless these have a nice hole/cave to sleep in. Often not provided in growing on tanks.

All the best James


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

24Tropheus said:


> Iggy Newcastle said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks. I'll keep an eye out and make sure it doesn't excel into anything greater.
> ...


I've wondered the same thing. I do have around 15 shells in the tank, that some of the calvus occupy on occasion or during a WC.

On another note, that synodontis(the one doing the 'sucking') turned up dead this morning. Not sure what caused it at this time.


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## luuuis (Mar 24, 2012)

Sorry to hijack but I've recently started taking notice of this behaviour and it seems quite frequent in my tank with Synodontis lucipinnis and saulosi. It goes like this:
* Synodontis lucipinnis swims up to female saulosi and starts mouthing at her side (around the operculum),
* saulosi displays territorial shaking behaviour as if to warn the Syno away,
* Syno ignores said shaking and goes on about his business until saulosi swims away.

This is with the lights on, who knows what goes on at night...

I am getting a bit worried as there is a red patch above the operculum/gill and today there is 1 raised scale which was not there before. The problem is I've changed the tank around recently and swapped the dominant male for another so there is a bit of aggression anyway as new territories are established. So I can't say for sure if this fish's injuries are caused by the Syno, aggression, or even swimming into something as they have been terribly skittish.

This baffles the mind, would a fish not immediately strike back or at least swim off if they are being hurt? I will try to capture a video but it won't be easy.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Dunno for sure. It sounds weird, lots of folk keep Mbuna and this Syno together without reporting any problems.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Sorry double post. This forums time limmits on edits erm well could be better. :wink:

Dunno for sure. It sounds weird, lots of folk keep Mbuna and this Syno together without reporting any problems.
I would look towards water probs or disease probs or ill fish coming in or fish kept in too small a tank together. Not saying the Syno could not have damaged the Mbuna _P.saulosi_ but in many a tank _P.saulosi_ or any Mbuna quickly get better from small wounds on their own.


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## luuuis (Mar 24, 2012)

I managed to get a video.






There's a picture of the saulosi in this post in the Ilness forum: Damage to gill cover.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I had not expected the Syno to be so small. Looks like its going after food. Only reason I can think that the cichlid stays there and puts up with it, is it thinks it is or it is being cleaned of paracytes.

Its a new one on me. Very interesting.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Yep looks like the Syno is feeding on a wound/scratch/infection. Prob the same sort of thing as this?










I would for sure isolate the Mbuna untill healed.

All the best James


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## luuuis (Mar 24, 2012)

Thanks for your replies, 24Tropheus. The white patches were looking bigger (picture in the other thread) so I isolated the saulosi female.

I'm wondering I how keep this from continuing, though... Could it be related to a deficiency in the lucipinnis diet? I feed them Hikari Algae wafers since they are in with Mbuna. And I'm sure they feed on mbuna fry. Should I be feeding them something else?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I would look to your rocks. They look very scratchy to me. Very Marine looking and great for Marines but even Mbuna can scrape themselves during chases etc.

Catfish damage is I would guess only happening after first scrape kind of thing.

When I stopped using coral and tufa and texas holy rocks (and coral sand) etc in my Mbuna tanks, suddenly skin problems and wounds healed faster and became a lot less common.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

When I tell folk this they tend to think I am a snob not liking Marine white. But honestly I find smoother freshwater rocks and sand better for fresh water fish. Even Rifts.


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