Featherfin Synodontis – Synodontis Eupterus

Common name: Featherfin Syno, Featherfin Synodontis, Featherfin Squeeker

Scientific name: Synodontis Eupterus

Average Adult Fish Size: 8.7 inches  /  22 cm

Place of Origin: Sudan, Africa

Typical Tank setup: Rocky African biotope with caves, roots/bogwood/driftwood and plants.

Recommended Minimum Aquarium Capacity: 40 gallon  /  160 litre

Compatibility: Peaceful if kept in a large enough aquarium with plenty of hiding places. Can be aggressive to other fish, especially when defending a favorite hiding spot.

Temperature: 72 – 80 Deg F  /  22 – 27 Deg C

Water chemistry: pH 6.0 – 7.8

Feeding:  Will readily accept a varied diet of catfish tablets, pellets, flakes, frozen and live foods such as brine shrimp.

Sexing: Sex is not easy to differentiate at the juvenile stage, but when they reach adulthood the male is usually more slender, while the female is much more bulky. Venting is the best way to sex this species though.

Breeding: Breeding information is unknown.

Additional Information: Make sure your heater has a heater guard, is in your sump, or you have some other means to protect this fish from hiding by the heater and getting burned. Will swim and rest in the upsidedown position. Will eat small fish. The Featherfin color pattern changes quite a lot between its juvenile and adult stage, the juvenile having a body of attractive lines of black and white intervened with irregular spots revealing a “zebra” appearance, only to lose that to a more dull gray/brownish coloration with spots on the body at the stage of adulthood, though keeping a more “lined” appearance at his tail.  The feature that makes this catfish unique is its dorsal fin, that, when raised with all its filaments extended, resembles a moving fan.