Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Catfish > Feather-Fin Synodontis

Feather-Fin SynodontisFeather-Fin Catfish ~ Feather-Fin Squeaker

Family: Mochokidae

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Synodontis eupterusPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

     The Feather-Fin Synodontis is quite a pretty fish with its polka dot patterning giving it a delicate lacey appearance!

   Although this Synodontis (like most of this genus) gets fairly large, reaching up to 6" (15 cm) when mature, it gets along well in a large community aquarium. The Feather-Fin Synodontis or Feather-Fin Catfish are fairly hardy fish and are not difficult to keep in a well maintained environment.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Care and feeding:      Since they are omnivorous the Feather-Fin Synodontis will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food or pellet everyday. Also feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms.

Distribution:      The Feather-Fin Synodontis are found in Africa, the White Nile, Chad basin and Niger.

Size - Weight:      These fish get up to 6 inches (15 cm).

Social Behaviors:      The Feather-Fin Synodontis are generally a good community fish and can be kept with any size tank-mates.

Sexual Differences:      Not known.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:      These fish will swim in the bottom of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:      Hardness: 2-15 ° dGH
     Ph: 6.2 to 7.5
     Temp: 72-79 ° F (22-26 ° C)

Breeding/Reproduction:      Has not been bred in captivity.

Availability:      The Feather-Fin Synodontis is available from time to time.

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Latest Comments
Mine was bought at 3cm and now is about 10 cm. I have him in a 55 gallon with sand, cichlids, a peacock eel, silver dollars, a cuvier bichir, two harliquin rasoboras, and a pictus cat. he is quite territorial and has scars from trying to attack cichlids and being turned on. Very fast growing. Charlie 2009-03-27
I have a featherfin catfish in a 50 gallon tank with 3 silver dollars and 3 angelfish. I bought it at 5 cm, which quickly turned into 12 cm. I used to have two striped raphael catfish, until my featherfin beat them both to death, a very sad ending for them, I really loved those two. I was so furious with my featherfin that I almost took it out and wanted to drop it in a pot of boiling water, but even though it is a brutal fish, I can't do such a cruel thing to my pet. But now I'm aware that mine is particularly aggressive and territorial to other bottom dwellers. Many months have passed, and my once 5 cm baby catfish is now a 6 inch eating machine. He loves to eat anything within reach(flakes, pellets, bloodworms), if not, it will reach for it. I now see it very often. I never see him hide in his cave, usually it is spotted swimming upside-down, very common among Synodontis species. He is now the most peaceful fish in the tank, because he has the whole bottom part of the tank for himself. I hope he grows to a full eight inches soon, I really want it to reach its maximum size. Calvin 2009-02-07
I have my FeatherFin in 29G tank with 3 Tiger Barbs, 2 Tin Foil Barbs, a Striped Raphael Catfish, and Two Plecos. Now, mine are all Juvenile's. At 1st he (the featherfin) picked on my Albino Pleco who's much smaller then him, but I added another cat and now they're all cool. He chases the pleco's if they get to high but other then that, they are good. Mike Nichols 2008-10-17
i have two featherfins in a 10 gallon tank with a bunch of other community fish. One is about 4 inches now and is highly territorial to the other feather. They tend to be a little nocturnal; they completely hide themselves when i turn the tank light on. I find that they change colors when i put them in different tanks. Right now its pitch-black on the black gravel but when i put it in my other tank, with white gravel, it becomes a lot lighter and his spots are visible. Right now all they will eat are sinking wafers and bloodworms. They are great fish and have beautiful fins. alec 2006-09-30
I got a Lace Cat about a year ago. I have an unusual assortment of fish, but they work wonderfully together! I have a 50 gallon with 4 HUGE goldfish, 1 butterfly pleco, 3 cory cats, 2 apple snails, and my beautiful Lace Cat. The lace cat has grown like a champ! I cant believe how much it has changed and the size it is now! It is wonderful to watch, I am just fascinated by him. He does hide during the day, but he'll come out if I feed them. I just think he's a wonderful addition to the tank! ashley 2005-11-21
Some of the coolest comments:
I bought my featherfin around 3cm and now its at full grown 15cm. It tends to hide but will come out when feeding and I have found it swimming upside down near the surface of the water many times (thinking it has died!). Very hardy fish and cleans the bottom of the tank very well, but is territorial and doesn't like people looking at it (mine flinches and will try to hide even more when people look at it). Word of advice, DO NOT keep with Neons, Cardinals or Rummynoses in the tank, it waits till they are asleep at night and gobbles them down. I have lost 15 cardinals over a few weeks and 7 rummynoses in one night to this eating machine. Unfortunately I had to separate my featherfin from my main tank due to these incidents... ben 2009-12-29
I have 2 featherfins in a 55 gallon tank with a few zebra danios, glow-fin tetras, black tetras, and 2 golden algae eaters. They all get along just fine. I did have the same problems others mentioned with neon tetras disappearing, but only with neons. Featherfins just like the taste of neons apparently. The best way to introduce new fish to your tank with the territorial featherfins is to rearrange the tank. Move the plants and rocks around at the same time that you add the new fish. The confusion makes them think they are in a new area (which has the new fish), and the territory is no longer theirs. It has worked great for me for all fish except the neons. Just don't add neons to a tank with featherfins and you should be okay. Larry 2009-11-23

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