How to feed synodontis in a mbuna tank?

[GermanDude]

Hi!

I have 5 young lucipinnis catfish with my mbunas for some days and concerned they may starve.
Mbunas should not eat much at once, but when their short feeding frenzy is over the catfish just start to come out of their caves, looking for food.
But there is nothing left.
Should I introduce a night feeding?
Or will the mbunas eat that too?

Thanks in advance!

 

[tlindsey]

Hi!

I have 5 young lucipinnis catfish with my mbunas for some days and concerned they may starve.
Mbunas should not eat much at once, but when their short feeding frenzy is over the catfish just start to come out of their caves, looking for food.
But there is nothing left.
Should I introduce a night feeding?
Or will the mbunas eat that too?

Thanks in advance!

Drop food on the aquarium after lights are off like you mentioned but cut room light off also. The Cichlids can still see the food even in a dim room. The Catfish can smell out the food in total darkness.

 

[GermanDude]

Thank you, that is what I will do.

 

[RD.]

Another option is to target feed, use a piece of PVC pipe and drop the food down the pipe with it exiting directly into the cats caves.

 

[GermanDude]

Thanks, but they are all in different spots.

 

[Ulu]

I have a long bulb syringe for target feeding fry and bottom fish.

But it's a pain to have to take the lids off. I don't use it enough.

Because of this I recently lost a nice fish to overeating. (Overfeeding, my laziness, whatever.)

 

[RD.]

Thanks, but they are all in different spots.

Interesting, my group of 8 adult wild caught generally stayed together. Only one that had it's own spot in a different nook/cranny, but it always joined the others when the food hit the water. Perhaps yours will grow more as a community once they settle in and mature a bit.

 

[Nick Park]

What kind of substrate do you have in your tank? I find syno's are pretty good at nosing through gravel and eating food that the mbuna missed. You think they aren't getting enough to eat, but they still manage to grow fast and bulk up.

Once they got to be bigger than the mbuna, I started dropping in catfish pellets after all the lights go out (both in the tank and in the room). As soon as the lights go out, the syno's start cruising around waiting for the pellets and the mbuna get out of their way.

 

[GermanDude]

I have sand in there, but it is a very small grain size.
Started to feed at night yesterday and will continue doing it for a while.
Feeding the mbuna all they can eat within a minute twice a day means very little or nothing is left over for the catfish, and they are pretty small and slim yet.
I use a little box, where I insert the pellets, every time I feed.
Just before the first food touches the water surface, I shake it, hoping the catfish will connect the sound with lunchtime.
The fish in my other tank learned it pretty fast and they can hear the sound several yards away and get excited.
The mbunas got it quickly too, but the catfish not yet.

 

[GermanDude]

Hey guys,

nightfeeding works pretty well, the catfish are looking fine.