Breeding Synodontis lucipinnis

Ever since my introduction to Tanganyikans, Synodontis petricola has been number one on my wish list. To me, a lively rift lake tank would not be complete without a school of these golden brown black speckled leopard-looking catfish darting across the substrate. At the time (approximately 8 years ago) these fish proved to be extremely illusive and hard to come by in SA. I nearly gave up hope when I happened upon a group of fish advertised as S. petricola at a LFS in Pretoria about 3 years ago. Without any hesitation I bought all 9 of the fish on the spot. At that time, I had unfortunately already sold my Cyprichromis leptosoma and decommissioned my Tanganyika tank.

A year after moving to Cape Town, I came across 5 more fish also advertised as S. petricola. As any sane fish keeper would have done, I bought these on the spot as well. So I was now sitting with 14 juvenile S. petricola…or so I believed.

After some proper research, I found out there are actually many different varieties of S. petricola lookalikes in Lake Tanganyika. One good article explains the differences between S. petricola and S. lucipinnis (https://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=418). After much deliberation, I now believe that my 14 adult catfish comprises of a mixed group of S. grandiops and S. lucipinnis rather than S. petricola. Regardless of the species, I love these fish for the following reasons:

1.) Beautiful colouration

2.) Peaceful behavior – Virtually no aggression: raised platy fry in the same tank without incident

3.) Social interaction – should be kept in schools of at least 4 to 6 (larger schools encourages them to emerge from hiding)

4.) Very hardy – in three years have not lost a single fish

5.) Non fussy eaters – good scavengers of uneaten food left on the substrate

6.) Does well with rift lake cichlids (Tanganyika & Malawis)

7.) Leaves plants intact!

8.) Only grows to approximately 120mm max.

9.) Proven easy to breed once maturation is reached using the flower pot method.

In the wild, one of these petricola lookalikes (S. multipunctatus) are considered a cuckoo breeder. During spawning, the parent fish apparently release their eggs and milt within newly laid cichlid eggs of another species. The cichlid parents, not being able to distinguish the intruder catfish eggs from their own, actually cares for and raises the catfish eggs as well. Even after the catfish fry hatch and eat all the cichlid fry, the cichlid parents still recognises the catfish fry as their own and raise them as such.

Anyway, my adult setup for the last 3 years:


S. lucipinnis female:


S. lucipinnis male:


S. grandiops:


Breeding setup tank:


1 year old juveniles:

 

Thank you! I have some 1 year old juveniles available. Will post on the livestock classifieds soon.

What is even more interesting is that their breeding cycle coincides with the moon phases. Spawning usually takes place the week before full moon. I found this out from Greg Sage's youtube channel - Select Aquatics. Brilliant guides on spawning lots of species. I have to wonder if there is some natural occurrence around full moon in Lake Tanganyika where copepods flock towards the moonlight at night or some other food source becomes more readily available.

 

Awesome post. I too have found the naming of cuckoo syndontis at pet shops quite frustrating , even saw a store naming baby featherfins as petricola...
I could be interested in some of the lucipinnicus as I have only one currently in my tank with 2 true petricola. Would be awesome to spawn them but unfortunately Im consolidating my tanks.

 

Well Ive kept my adults with 1 month old rainbow boesmani fry and they were fine. But I do agree that if you have multie fry close to the substrate, they may become a snack. Ocellatus on the other hand will put the catfish solidly in their place .

They would look stunning in a cichlid community tank though... If you happened to find some, try them out. You will not be disappointed.

 

Thank you! I agree completely. It can be so confusing. I am happy to sell you some if you are interested, I will post in the livestock classifieds over the weekend. You are very lucky to have true S. petricola.

There is a very good article about the phylogeny of Lake Tanganyika catfish freely available for download on Research Gate:

Day, J.J. & Wilkenson, M. 2006 On the origin of the Synodontis catfish species flock of Lake Tanganyika. Biol. Lett. (2006) 2, 548–552 (doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0532)

The authors provide a good illustration on the diversity within the lake:



S. multipunctatus is the true cuckoo catfish. If you skip to the 40 min mark in the very ancient Jewel of the Rift documentary:



It shows the interesting breeding behavior of these fish

 

@Zuraki they are really awesome . I wish we could get these in kzn . I would love a school of these !!!

 

Hi Peter,

Thanks! If I felt safe enough to ship them I would have made a plan but I am so scared that I send them to their deaths. I just feel much safer selling local only.

I will post an add in the classifieds tomorrow morning. If you can make a plan to get someone to collect in the WC, we can arrange something.