# African bottom feeders?



## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

ok so i have african cichlids and i have a sand substrate with a few live plants so plecos are out of the question. im looking for something that will sift through the sand and eat leftover food what would work with these guys? Money


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I know that there are Synodontis species that can be kept with cichlids. 1077 keeps one with his Jack Dempsey but I'm not recalling which species at the moment. I'm pretty sure he keeps the one that "squeaks". They will scavage and eat left over food but I don't think they are sand sifters. Maybe google the Synodontis species?


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

ok cool thank you time to google


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Curious to know what turned up on your google searches??


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

i guess Synodontis means catfish or something i put that into google and came up with alot of them. im not sure how these would do with the territorial aggression from my africans though they look to passive. but then again it may be a trial and error type of thing too. would there be any type of loach that would work here? or maybe shrimp?


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I was hoping you would have landed on this page:

Synodontis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let me go hunt down 1077's post in regards to his squeaker...


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## mollies (Mar 27, 2009)

I have a clown loach in my 55 with my red zebras. You may not keep them alive do to your newer tank. I would say a pleco of sum sort if you train them with a diet that is scedualed they wont eat your live plants.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

MoneyMitch said:


> ok so i have african cichlids and i have a sand substrate with a few live plants so plecos are out of the question. im looking for something that will sift through the sand and eat leftover food what would work with these guys? Money


You may be interested in Synodontis Multipunctatus. They are a placid fish that would work well with Cichlids. I have one six inch specimen with a approx, five inch Electric Blue Jack Dempsey and though the dempsey trys to bully the synodontis ,it is capable of holding it's own. I also have two of these Synodontis Multipunctatus in a 75 gal with a young female Polleni cichlid and a couple Bristlenose. The synodontis are about four inches long in the 75 gal.
They are excellent at removing food that may fall past the cichlids but do most of their foraging during the evening. I try and add a little food for them in the way of peelets after the lights are off. They will need some type of cover to feel comfortable. This can be caves that are made of rock work or PVC plastic siliconed to slate to hold it down,or perhaps a couple clay pots that are broken in half with opening for the fish to enter.
The synodontis Multipunctatus if kept in pairs, Male/Female have an interesting way of procreating. They will observe a mating pair of cichlids and when the female cichlid drops eggs, the Synodontis will slip in and eat the cichlid eggs or a large portion of them, and deposit their own eggs. The female cichlid then scopps up the eggs thinking that they are hers and unknowingly, raises the little synodontis. They are sometimes called the ..Cuckoo Catfish for this reason. It is remarkable to me that they can time their breeding with that of the cichlids to achieve this sneaky feat. Would in my view,, be a good way to control numbers of cichlid fry.
I believe many of the other synodontis would be too placid or too small ot too large for some cichlid tanks and it is for those reasons that I chose the Synodontis Multipunctatus.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the info, 1077! I had looked for your prior post and couldn't find it. :dunno:


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

thanks so much for the recommendation 1077 crazy about their breeding habits.


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