Synodontis multipunctatus

[exasperatus2002]

I was doing some thinking (I try not to too often, it hurts, lol) but evolution does strange things which work out in the end...sometimes. Take S. multi for instance. A parasitic spawner. What would compell a fish to risk the energy it need to produce a clutch of eggs only to drop it in front of another fish in the hopes that it'll brood them for her as opposed to the other pair of fish eating them? You'd think that might have set them up on the short branch of the evolutionary tree. With the #'s of multi's in the wild, and the large numbers of multi's in lake tanganyika, you'd think that they also broadcast spawn? I've read that tang's make the worst host for spawning multi's because they "know" that they're parasitic and can possibly even differentiate their own eggs from the cats which is why malawan cichlids make the better host when producing multi's.

That being said, you have related fish like petricola which are broadspawners & people us marbles inside of caves to help save the eggs from being eaten. Has anyone tried doing this with multipunctatus? Any results?

[MatsP]

I'm not sure the evolution went that way around - the pre-cuckoo "multi" may well have been egg-scatterers, and the cichlids eating the eggs - some cichlid was also carrying eggs in the mouth, and got confused and gathered those eggs too, and the multi fry learned to eat the cichlid fry.

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Mats

[Richard B]

Multis will on occasion scatter.

The only thing that i'd point out is that the intelligence of fish is less than of human (in most cases ) so applying our logic to them is not quite correct - as so much as, in simplistic terms, a mouthbrooding cichlid might think - "laid eggs, must get in mouth" to provide instant maternal care. They perhaps wouldn't differentiate between eggs of a different species as they'll be primarily concerned with providing protection for the eggs against potential predators

[DJRansome]

produce a clutch of eggs only to drop it in front of another fish in the hopes that it'll brood them for her as opposed to the other pair of fish eating them?

I've only witnessed a multi spawn once, but I understand the one I saw was typical. The syno's circle with the spawning mbuna, and then...

you'd think that they also broadcast spawn?

They did in fact produce a six inch diameter cloud of large, visible eggs in the vicinity of the mbuna spawn. At least twice. There was a lot of confusion between the multi's frenzy, the mbuna spawning and the rest of the tank snapping up the multi eggs midair.

use marbles inside of caves to help save the eggs from being eaten. Has anyone tried doing this with multipunctatus? Any results?

This works with Lucipinnis because they spawn in the flower pot with the marbles underneath. Multi's circle with the host on some surface so where would you put the marbles? But I have read posts of people who watch for the egg release and use a turkey baster to suck up the eggs, then tumble them.