Synodontis Ocellifer + cherax quadricarinatus

Sponske · Post by **Sponske** » 25 May 2004, 08:30

hi,

i am benjamin from belgium and i was wondering.

Can i put a couple of adult cherax Q.(crayfish) in the same tank as my Synodontis Ocellifer?

There is a juvenile male cherax in the tank now and it seems to go well.
no one got harmed yet. but this male is only 10cm (4") now. this crayfish
will be moved to a friend. many smaller crayfish (young of the adult couple) are in the tank too, and they are not bothering or being bothered.

adult cherax can get up to 20cm (8"). i don't really know about Synodontis Ocellifer.

has anyone got some tips or experience to share?

thanx
B

BTW excuse my english grammar! you should try writing dutch!

Post by **Silurus** » 25 May 2004, 12:02

How big is your syno?

Sponske · Post by **Sponske** » 25 May 2004, 12:48

about 5" (13cm) now.

i don't know or it will still grow.

greetz

Post by **Silurus** » 25 May 2004, 13:13

The syno will get bigger.

Don't see a problem with putting a couple yabbies in there.

Sponske · Post by **Sponske** » 25 May 2004, 13:18

allright thanx!

i shall give it a try then. the crayfish will be happy to get out of their small tanks.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 26 May 2004, 00:08

Be very careful!

I breed Red Claws (C quadricarinatus), and usually this particular lobster is docile.

But it can only be trusted with small, agile fish (!), NOT with slow-moving bottomdwelling "things".

Example: I once had a surplus male, and I had him in the Tang-tank for quite a while. He was a great snailkiller, but also a voracious plant-eater...
A single cherax can exterminate a moderately sized field of Vallisneria or other soft plants in a single night!
All the fish in there, where agile small fish, the biggest ones were Syno petricola, Tropheus and burtoni's; wich were all ignored.
Their current tank (wich houses a breeding pair of Red Claws and their many offspring) houses many guppies and a single Common Brown Bristlenose, wich are all fine.

BUT I once added an adult Axolotl that was even bigger than the lobsters, and found out that after the weekend, that poor thing was mutilated beyond recognition!!
Luckily Axolotls are true regenerate-artists, and it healed remarkably well.

But you should NOT combine a lobster like that with slow-moving bottomdwellers!

On the other hand, some omnivore/carnivore L-numbers are lethal to similarsized lobsters as well; as soon as the lobster moulds, it's toast.......I lost a whole group of Mexican Dwarflobsters (Cambarellus montezumae) to 5 Tiger Pleco's, wich were of a size to the lobsters.......