They can get pretty big. I worked and a LFS back in my younger days and a guy called up and asked if he could bring in his fish. I asked how big and what kind and he told me about 10 inches to a foot and didn't know what they were except they weren't Oscars, and he thought they were some kind of cichlid. We had an empty 75 at the time so I said sure. He then asked me how he should bring them in. I told him a couple 5 gallon buckets. Next he told me that he didn't think they would fit. I told him that if he had a cooler that would work as well but they should fit in the buckets just fine for the short ride.
About an hour later he showed up with 2 giant synspilum that were facedown in each bucket. These were the biggest syns I'd ever seen! Both their tails were sticking out of the water. I'd say the male had to be16-17 inches and the female wasn't far behind at about 14-15. Both had a LOT of body mass as well. I quickly tried to acclimate the two stressed fish but lost the male almost immediately. The next day when I came in the female had passed away. It was such a shame because I would have taken these fish home had I'd known. I felt really bad for a while too given the fact I instructed him to use the buckets when they were obviously not large enough. It was the middle of the summer and the store dumpster never smelled worse.
