# How to Get Syno Multis to come out and eat?



## a82allison (Jul 17, 2008)

I have 4 small synodontis multipunctatus, about 1.5 inches long. My other fish are all juvies too, largest fish in aquarium is about 2.5inch maybe 3inches.
The catfish hide all the time. Shouldn't they come out and eat with the other fish? Should I be concerned?
I see them come out at night and rove along the rocks and substrate, but I seriously don't think they could be getting very much food from that. 
Do I need to do anything special for them to get them to eat?


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## Barbie (Feb 13, 2003)

You could feed them after lights out with food formulated for them . That's the easiest way to be sure they're getting enough to eat, IMO.

Barbie


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

That's what I was thinking, sinking wafers after lights out.

Mine do come out and eat with the other fish, but they stay on the bottom. For this reason, I'm sure to dump NLS in very quickly so I can see a sprinkle of pellets make it to the bottom while the mbuna are gobbling what's still in the water column. My multies are all over it!

If your's are fresh in from the wild, they may just need some time to acclimate.


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## a82allison (Jul 17, 2008)

What kind of sinking wafers should I get?

I currently feed the NLS sinking pellets to my fish right now, but they pretty much gobble it before it ever hits the floor.


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

I have 4 S. petricola in my 180g, almost all the other fish are bigger than them (some by 3 times the size in length alone) yet come feeding time they all come out to get it.

however when I first added them they were very shy and I was also worried about them eating enough, but they managed to get enough food.

I did occasionally feed after lights out, but not regularly


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## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

I have 7 S.multi's, all 4-5" adults, and they're anything but shy about coming out for food. I recently added 3 of them, 1 of which hangs out in the open with the original group, while the other 2 tend to stay under cover. They share a 55 with 11 Hap's, a stray Julie, and a single BN pleco. I'd also recommend dropping some food in after the lights have been off for a while. How much cover is available? Having plenty of hiding places available may make them less inclined to stay under cover.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I have four multipunctatus who are out ALL the time, in and out of the rocks, along the bottom and sometimes across the top of the rock mountain and even along the glass. I basically "hand" feed them the NLS H2O wafers. I break them into smallish pieces and use a long tong to bring them right down to the synos. They know tong=food and they crowd around it and grab the wafer pieces. It's quite a skirmish!


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