Not Upside Down Catfish

Why is my catfish always upside down? He's(she)not an upside down catfish, my upside down catfish is right side up more than this buggar is. Is it time for the frying pan?

 

If you can get a picture of his body I can identify it but it looks like a synodonis soecies and that whole African catfish species are known to swim upside down

 

Looks like you have a type of Synodontis catfish. I have Synodontis petricola, and they are constantly swimming upside down...its normal.

 

I was told it was a Dino cat when I unwillingly adopted him. Could be an African species. One of his tank mates is an African leaf fish so that would make sense, but the rest of them(aside from the one I know as a synodontis catfish) are all south American species.

 

No, that's a syno catfish.. I have a syno squeeker and he swims upside down all the time, it's common for synos to swim upside down. My syno is the most active fish I've literally ever had in my entire life, he does laps around my tank ALL **** day, he's 3 years old now and still active as ever.

 

Besties



this is a syno cat. As far as I've ever been aware. The one in question is about a foot long.

No, that's a syno catfish.. I have a syno squeeker and he swims upside down all the time, it's common for synos to swim upside down. My syno is the most active fish I've literally ever had in my entire life, he does laps around my tank ALL day, he's 3 years old now and still active as ever.

What species possibly? Everything I've read on them is saying a max size of around 5-6" and mine is easily twice that. The pleco is about 9" and the fish in question is easily larger.

 

If it’s just about a foot it could be a synodonis eupterus they usually get around 8-9 inches in tank but there are report of them reaching 11.8 inches max.

 

That makes sense. It's in a 100 gallon this is another that I know is a syno along with him. What species is the smaller one?



And is there anything special about their care? And how big will the smaller one get? I want to keep him of it'll stay small.

 

Yeah that’s definitely a synodonis eupterus and the other one looks like a synodonis nigriventris

They max out at about 4 inches. But they also do better with other synodonis of the same species they will be a lot more active in a school if you have room for the bioload.

 

The Synodontis Longirostris can grow up to 2 feet long. Bigger than the Eupterus

 

I forgot about that species but from the picture it is a eupterus, it has the light grey sides with the black spots and what looks like a frayed dorsal fin.

 

They max out at about 4 inches. But they also do better with other synodonis of the same species they will be a lot more active in a school if you have room for the bioload.

Do you have any experience with them? I'll be rehoming most of the fish in the tank to make way for a community tank. It's a 100 gallon with like 6 fish right now bridges with an empty 60g(and soon to be 30g) so I have plenty of room. The community tank will consist of south American tetras mostly with maybe some Bolivian rams or blue rams depending on what I like with similar water requirements. I plan on doing bristlenose as well and don't tend to keep too many catfish species together due to competition for the same food sources. But since one is an algae eater would they be fairly compatible?

I forgot about that species but from the picture it is a eupterus, it has the light grey sides with the black spots and what looks like a frayed dorsal fin.

Yeah, that's the species, and correct on the other one too. I just know nothing about African species since I tend to lean towards south American ones.

 

I forgot about that species but from the picture it is a eupterus, it has the light grey sides with the black spots and what looks like a frayed dorsal fin.

How can you see the sides or dorsal fin? All I can see is a head and I see no spots.
Never mind. I was looking at the first 2 pics. The one with him right side up didn't show yet.

 

Yeah I knOw about the synodonis species I came across them in my African cichlids research and learned about them. It depends on how big the South American tetras are if they’re too small yoy may see them start to disappear from the late eupterus. And some are territorial but since you say it is gettin. Along with the pleco I think you have a more docile one so the pleco should be fine. The nigriventris is a little more aggressive but if you have a big school of them it should make them more docile or you can move him to another tank and make a semI aggressive tank which they are perfect for. And Dch48 he posted a second photo that showed his body and dorsal fin

 

How can you see the sides or dorsal fin? All I can see is a head and I see no spots.

I posted other pictures somewhere in this thread. He is right about the species. I looked it up and found other pictures.

 

I posted other pictures somewhere in this thread. He is right about the species. I looked it up and found other pictures.

Yeah I hadn't seen the one where he is out and right side up. It does look like the eupterus but a rather large one. Do you know how old he is?

 

Yeah I knOw about the synodonis species I came across them in my African cichlids research and learned about them. It depends on how big the South American tetras are if they’re too small yoy may see them start to disappear from the late eupterus. And some are territorial but since you say it is gettin. Along with the pleco I think you have a more docile one so the pleco should be fine. The nigriventris is a little more aggressive but if you have a big school of them it should make them more docile or you can move him to another tank and make a semI aggressive tank which they are perfect for. And Dch48 he posted a second photo that showed his body and dorsal fin

I'm getting rid of the big guys altogether. The nigriventris I'm interested in keeping. Most of the community fish will be small(think neon size) the leaf fish is the most aggressive one I have in the tank and he bullies the convict that's in there along with the blue acara. I'm keeping the blue acara and I want to keep the leaf fish, but I don't have the lighting or budget for multiple well planted tanks. Aside from that there are a couple of barbs I need to do something with.

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Yeah I hadn't seen the one where he is out and right side up. It does look like the eupterus but a rather large one. Do you know how old he is?

I have no idea. I bought the tank off of some guy for $50 expecting it to just be the glass, but it came with fish, filters and all, so it kinda dampened my plans for it for the time being. I've never even seen some of these species before a few weeks ago.

 

Yeah if you add a few friends to the tank for him he would be a perfect fit, just not sure how common the are in the fish trade now.

 

Like I found out what the leaf fish was by googling spotted leaf looking fish . And tha acara by googling shiny blue south America cichlids.

 

Like I found out what the leaf fish was by googling spotted leaf looking fish . And tha acara by googling shiny blue south America cichlids.

Hey, whatever works. It's the internet , Nobody knows how you got there.