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Synodontis schoutedeni?

Backfromthedead said:
Yeah ive never really kept them. I always used to think they were only for rift lake tanks but figured out more recently there are river dwelling species as well.

I enjoy their activity for sure. They are more active than doradids but not frantic like pictus cats.
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Yea they are awesome cats, and the fact you dont have to worry about them eating tankmates is a big plus.
 
mattison187 said:
Yea they are awesome cats, and the fact you dont have to worry about them eating tankmates is a big plus.
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Yeah im anxious to mix them in with my larger community. Im hoping they put on some healthy size fairly quickly. I will probably set up a new tank for them and their loach friends soon. I have them in with the new argenteus tetras which demolish every scrap of food in the tank.
 
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Update for these fellas. 2 out of the 3 made it to adulthood in my tanks. The one that died succumbed to heater burns by the look of it. On a related note, these cats have been very reclusive and almost always try to jam themselves into the most hard to reach places in the tank. I would put them on par with a jag cat in terms of hiding and nocturnal tendencies. I only see them when changing water and their favorite log becomes emersed.

It appears these two have done well in my community tank though. The larger i would say is nearly 5" now with the smaller around 4". Kept at 77 F with various SA cichlids and cats. They do compete with the raphael cat for hiding spots but ive never seen anything more violent than some jostling.
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Not the best pictures. They are darker in coloration than other pics ive seen of schoutedeni online. Was wondering if someone could give me a positive ID on them or if maybe theyre some kind of hybrid.

Thanks for reading.
 
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Strange activity from these cats lately. Since removing all the other fish from the 135 besides them and 8 small clown loaches, the schoutedeni have become more gregarious.

They have taken to patrolling the tank together, sometimes stopping to inspect a crevice. While resting, they suspend themselves in a java fern mat facing the surface. Id like to think the new behavior indicates a pairing and or breeding but im clueless with syno cats. Should i put in a pvc pipe or something?

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One thing I'd be sure of: these are not schoutedeni. They strike me as hybrids but the syno genus has been expanding dramatically over recent years, so this makes me unsure. I have not kept track of the new species being added. I apologise but again would send you to PCF for positive ID.

Perhaps some diurnal fish you removed had been bothering them and now with the threat gone, they can come out in daylight.
 
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thebiggerthebetter said:
One thing I'd be sure of: these are not schoutedeni. They strike me as hybrids but the syno genus has been expanding dramatically over recent years, so this makes me unsure. I have not kept track of the new species being added. I apologise but again would send you to PCF for positive ID.

Perhaps some diurnal fish you removed had been bothering them and now with the threat gone, they can come out in daylight.
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I have suspected them to be a hybrid strain for some time. They possess some of the coloration but lack the intricate patterns ive seen in pictures of true schoutedeni
online. Unfortunate i suppose but they are pretty cats nonetheless and im not a huge stickler about these things.

Perhaps i will create an account there. Im getting more and more into catfish these days.
 
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I would agree that they are not Schoutedeni , not so much because of the lack of intricacy in the patern, this develops better with age imo but the dark background color. The whole feel of this cat and of course it's common name come from it's yellow gold background color.
as to what they actually are, that's much more difficult. As with most, give them something to hide in, some darker areas of cover and you will no doubt see them out and about a lot during the day, and feeding will be straight forward, blood worm being an easy acceptable choice but they will take all sorts. As for eventual size, hard to tell until we decide on type but best guess at this point would probably be 4-6"
great looking cats still.
 
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