Synodontis Lucipinnis Minimum Group Size

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I never kept woodcats but generally fish are more adaptable to different water conditions, the bigger the area where they can be found in the wild and the longer their ancestors have been bred in captivity.
Just asking the vendor what his water parameters are like is what I always did, before ordering fish.
Well I know that my woodcat is definitely wild caught. So most likely I’d have to try go for some captive bred lucipinnis? How many of the specimens that show up are captive bred. What would you do?
 
Honestly, I would not mix these catfish.
But if I wanted them so badly and had no other tank I would ask for the origin and the water parameters before purchasing them and buy from where they already live at similar parameters they are supposed to be living at my tank.
In case they are wild caught or F1 or F2 generation, I would not buy them.
 
I concur with GermanDude.
 
I understand. Are there any alternatives that can live in more acidic water. I love the way these fish look AND move. Are there any other fish that are similar in either or both ways?
 
Less serpentine like moving, but bright with darker spots and entertaining are albino hoplo catfish.
Tend to get much bigger though.
 
I have to wonder about Lucipinnis. Easy to breed and from what I can see online, often kept in tanks which are obviously slightly acid or neutral ph just from the planting. Ie. Not always kept in rift lake setups. i had heard they can be kept and bred in neutral to slightly acid water and if they are breeding you would think they must be happy, however a lot will come down to where you get them from! No doubt there are other synodontis which you could chose although many may not have the same appeal.
 
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I’m really stumped. There is so much contradicting information on their PH requirements and I can’t decide what to believe.
 
There may be several right ways, depending on what your new catfish are used to.
Does the pH of about 7.0 come from your tap water?
Chances are high, that the local fish store's pH is about the same.
Why don't you just go a watch the catfish closely and ask about the pH and the origin of the synodontis?
 
There is a breeder around here somewhere breeding these as I can go into multiple stores and they all have babies at the same time. They all say the same thing local guy brings them in every 4 or 5 months. So they must be happy. If hes on city water it's going to be around 7. If its well it could be anything. Most lfs have around 7 here and they seem fine in it, and in mine..... 7.
 
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