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I've had my ~25cm SL notata since February, he has thankfully been a gentle giant in my 5x2x2, as this species does seem to be a bit unpredictable. The smallest fish he has shared with down there is my ~7cm male Aborichthys elongatus, who often stays hidden under bogwood but when out in the open can move like grease lightning (read Zebra Danio with a turbo boost! ;) ).

From last year I know my ~18cm SL Synodontis decora is safe with fry, he had ~50 Steatocranus casuarius newborns buzzing around him for the best part of two months, before I had to rescue the poor fella from the Steatocranus parents.

I've been offered the chance to buy 25 Pareutropius buffei at a very good price, £2 per fish, however there is a good chance they might be quite young/small at 3-4cm SL. These midwater diurnal schoolers are top of my "Zaire rapids" wishlist, but I'm wary of what my notata will make of them while so small, even after I give them at least a month of quarantine (during which time I would hope they would grow a little) before introduction to the notata.

Right now I'm thinking a group of Distichodus affinis; group of Distichodus demmaculatus; or 1/3 Distichodus nobolo would be a far safer choice at this moment in time.

... Virtual penny for your thoughts?

From last year I know my ~18cm SL Synodontis decora is safe with fry, he had ~50 Steatocranus casuarius newborns buzzing around him for the best part of two months, before I had to rescue the poor fella from the Steatocranus parents.

I have had the same scenario play out but with (6 or 7 inch) the synos were holding their new hiding spots they had to move to and basically seemed to not want to attract the attention of the Cichlids...one of the reasons I do not put territorial Cichlids in with my cats, gets really disruptive.

As for the I do not think a well fed notata will chase them down but....

This is what I wrote about in a thread by Shane, you probably read it but here it is again

I really like these but you will have to keep an eye on them , they do not compete very well.

Having another schooling fish will help to make the Pareutropius more comfortable but as an example pigish Congo tetras will out compete them.

Pareutropius do tend to sulk(for lack of better word)easily, competition, water quality, different things will set this off, when they do and its not addressed you can expect them to quickly start to go one by one.

When active and feeling good about themselves these absolutely would be a great sight in your tank in as big a group as you can get, I think they should be at the very least a group of 12 but more is better.

25 would be cool

I decided to order 25 Pareutropius in the end, with no intention of mixing them with my notata for some time, I have wanted a group of these midwater catfish for about two years but I never had the spare tank stocking capacity until now to make it a reality (all come about after finally finding homes for my Steatocranus and Ilyodon youngsters during this last week).

If the order goes through without a hitch, they will have some Distichodus demmaculatus for dithers and some Microsynodontis for company (hoping sp.1, but species ID can be a lottery from the wholesalers).

I would love to source some Arnoldichthys in decent numbers, but the 4 in stock at Wildwoods are no real use to anyone unless bought by an existing keeper, otherwise I would snap them up for some upper water reassurance. Another peaceful African that I saw for the first time were a lovely group of Barbus fasciolatus, who were showing lovely colours in a Southsea fish store, who could be a nice lower water school for this tank.