# SYNODONTIS ATTACKS



## yellow (Mar 3, 2004)

I thought i would share my recent experience which happened at work while cleaning fish tanks.

I was cleaning the inside of the tank fairly vigourously. As it was tank 52 out of around 150 you can imagine i wasn't really concentrating just going through the motions. So i got to the intake pipe in the corner and went to get the last patch of algae with a last wipe, still thinking of an order we were planning. This is where I was brought back to Earth with a thump. A 5 inch syno multipunctus swam up behind the pipe and i jammed the inch long dorsal fin into my ring finger at the knuckle nearest my hand. 
Now as you can imagine the fish got nearly as much a shock as i did and did its best to swim away and continued wriggling while stuck in my finger. So I did the normal thing and tried to pull the fish off but the barbs prevented that. My college had to cut the dorsal near the base with a big scissors , soon after in A & E (ER) sharing a waiting room with a girl diagnosed as having swine flu - actually they dealth with her within a minute of her entering the hospital, I was impressed - after 2 X Rays and 2 doctors pulling and poking at the finger i got to go home . Next morning, back at the hospital I was put under general anaestitic and had the 12mm barb removed from between the 2 bones of my finger. 
The finger is fine, will get the stitches out soon, the pain was worse than when i broke my hand and I had to take a course of antibiotics . The fish is fine just a bit depressed looking without his dorsal fin, the guys in work think it is because the other Synos don't believe him about the 6 footer that got away. They have also renamed him Synodontis Imgonnagetfrankus after me, Frank and made him priceless. He's going to end up joining the 2 i have in my tank here at home.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Ouch! We forget they have those spines!


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

that is an awesome story... my finger aches in sympathy!


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

Ouch, that sounds awful!!!!! Here's one for ya.

When I purchased my two 4-5 inch Synodontis eruptus the "boy" (couldn't have been over 15) who worked at the shop caught my fish. First off, he netted them (i find netting a syno is kind dumb, they just get stuck in the net, a jar works better) then he wrapped his hand around the fish when putting them in the bag (bags are no good for big syno's either, they poke big holes in them with their spines, bucket is better, learned this the hard way!). After the first one, I said "you know you really should not do that with those cats". He ignored me and repeated with the second one. He did not get stuck but I told him about their spines and the ouch that comes with getting stuck by a cat. He rolled his eyes and said he did not deal with fresh water much, mostly salt. I don't think he believed me. I hope he gets stuck one day! 
In addition to these two I also have a 6-7 inch Synodontis njassae. This gal has come after my hand a time or two but never got close enough. She is wicked! I am always careful around her!

Get well soon!


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## S&amp;T (Jul 27, 2009)

Sorry about the pain, but thanks for sharing the story.... it was a good laugh bro.

get well!


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## yellow (Mar 3, 2004)

thanks guys. 
the fish is making itsef at home now with my other 2 S multis and looks happy so far.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

dam... ****ty deal! hope all is well.

:lol: at the fact you bought it after.


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Working with aquarium fish can be a lot more dangerous than most people would think. Here are just a few of the close calls that I've had while cleaning fish tanks:

1) Started to pick up a piece of live rock...along with the dwarf lionfish that was underneath (and I'm allergic to bee stings, wasp stings, etc. so that wouldn't have been good).

2) While cleaning algae off of the glass in a reef tank----I noticed a 3 1/2 inch mantis shrimp approaching my hand....they are called thumb splitters for a good reason.

3) While strarting to remove a large sponge filter from one of the supposed to be empty quarantine tanks, I noticed fairly large, dark colored fish....it was a Black piranha that had been forgotten about (in other words, it was very hungry).

4) Not to mention all of the aggressive, territorial fish that viewed my hands as just another intruder....large Red Devils, Queen Triggerfish, Pufferfish, etc.


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