fat syno

[kennyman]

Are Synodontis supposed to get a fat belly? I have had one in my cichlid tank for about two years now and it is really getting a big gut. Is it normal for this type of catfish?

[babblefish1960]

Their mouths are very large, and eventually, their bellies catch up to all of the food they've been finding. It is most often large like this when they have been sneaking small fishes at night.  The other possibility, as a vague description warrants mere guesses, is that it could be a female with eggs.

[darkdep]

By Syno do you mean a Synodontis Eupterus (Featherfin Cat)?

If so, yes, they can develop a fat belly.  I have two and both are fat

[pegasus]

S. petricola are also fat even after starving them... well mine are fussy eaters.

[darkdep]

Syno's are all little vacuum cleaners...they eat everything that hits the bottom.

[pegasus]

Syno's are all little vacuum cleaners...they eat everything that hits the bottom.

Mine don't!  They eat NLS  or worst... would eat all the white worms I could throw at them, but they will not touch flakes or cichlid pellets not even beefheart.

[oenology]

I have a large featherfin that got fat suddenly. I thought it was maybe egg bound or something but a search on some of the sites dedicatecd to catfish seemed to indicate that the bloating might be do to an gastroenteritis and that antibiotics were warrented. I treated with metronidazole, the fish didn't die but neither did it recover its former physique so who knows!

[kennyman]

All I am feeding that tank is NLS cichlid formula and HBH veggie flake. This silly syno is swimming along the surface sucking up flake like a vacuum. Hopefully he is just fat. Maybe I should get out the net and chase him around a bit to give him some exercise 

[darkdep]

Pegasus:  Your Syno's are spoiled

Oenology:  Are you talking about that huge fat syno in your frontosa tank?  That thing is massive

[pegasus]

DarkDep : For which fish did you think the 5lbs NLS pail was for? Even starving them for 3 days did not make them look for other food.

[oenology]

Oenology:  Are you talking about that huge fat syno in your frontosa tank?  That thing is massive

That's the one I bought him/her at the Montreal auction 2 years ago. I think it likes the 125g