Synodontis Eupterus breeding project.

[Syno_Eupterus.]

I'm yet once again reviving my breeding project with my synos.
I've had a few failures already...OK, MANY failures so I know this won't be easy.

OK so what I'm going to do is:
- Increase their filtration...I'm scoring a better filter for that tank tomorrow knock on wood. I should have at least 3 filters running on their tank.

- Find a source for live foods/worms. Is Tropical fish distributers on aquabid any good for their lb of trout worms or whatever they call them?.

- Give them a decent sized "nest of marbles"...More advice from another syno breeder.

- Attempt to get an extra tank to breed them in. I think if I could score a 55 gal this would be ideal. I have a 55 gal stand in storage, one of the filters from their main tank could be transfered over to the breeding tank.
Hopefully I can squeeze that tank setup in, it'll be a temp setup so hopefully teh parents will be OK with another 55 gal setup which will have the only purpose of raising some very special catfish babies.

Unfortunately they are not easy to sex, but if I figure it out I might try and get one of those egg crates big cichlid keepers use so I can divide my synos up while I condition them. I'm fairly sure I have both sexes as I've seen their breeding display and one of my original trio used to get "fat"/gravid.
I hope to powerfeed them live worms for two weeks and then either attempt to spawn them in their species tank OR transfer them to a breeding tank.

The advantage of leaving them in their main tank is they are not easy moving fish...They tend to go nuts when being caught.
During one of my past attempts with them, they lost all interest in breeding once I moved them. So they'd be more comfortable not being moved.

On the other hand, they are egg scatterers and moving them to a specialized breeding tank would increase my success. For all I know maybe they have bred before and eaten their eggs.
I am hoping that part of the reason they lost their desire to breed in the past was because I tried to breed them in a 30 gal.
Well...wish me luck.

[Birger]

- Give them a decent sized "nest of marbles"...More advice from another syno breeder.

Also try putting some kind of bunch plant above the marbles for the fish to scatter their eggs into.These are not rock dwelling so need plants of some kind(I think), I would use bunches of anubias with good root systems to try this.

Unfortunately they are not easy to sex, but if I figure it out I might try and get one of those egg crates big c*****d keepers use so I can divide my synos up while I condition them. I'm fairly sure I have both sexes as I've seen their breeding display and one of my original trio used to get "fat"/gravid.

I have not kept these particular syno's but they should be not too hard to sex, should have the standard extended papillae visible from the side for the males I would think, if in good shape.This picture is a different species but should look similar.

The advantage of leaving them in their main tank is they are not easy moving fish...They tend to go nuts when being caught.
During one of my past attempts with them, they lost all interest in breeding once I moved them. So they'd be more comfortable not being moved.

If you are worried about them losing interest you could use the divider to get them into condition, then do a massive water change changing almost all water but bringing this water from another tank where it (the water)has matured but not too much or with other fish in it, it could have the right temp.maybe even slightly cooler.Then pull the divider.

I do think that conditioning them in different tanks is the way to go so they have no contact at all and then transfer the male in with the female then at least the female would not be moved and I do not think the male would be long gaining interest. Put in your egg catching gizmo(with plants), I do not think it would have to be overly large, do this shortly before introducing the male as well as the massive water change.

I hope to powerfeed them live worms for two weeks

You may want to consider extending the conditioning period.

Good luck in your endeavors.

Birger

[Syno_Eupterus.]

This tank hasn't had plants in many years due to the darkness. Even multiple lights failed to keep low light plants alive. Not even algae grows in this tank.

Depending on how many are which sex, I suppose I could look into moving them for the purpose of conditioning. Combined with the younger trio, I don't know how many are which sex.

The conditioning is going to be longer, just if I can manage this is the amount of time they will be fed live blackworms.Which FYI are very expensive and difficult to find. In fact, I've started to condition them already by doing an extra water change.

[bbbthebest]

I find your pic of the standard extended papillae to be very good and should be useful on some of the fish I have.