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Hippocampus Bildarchiv (3) Frants Lehmann (1 Stamp) Tobias Koch (4) BigFrogFeet (4) Reinhold Wawrzynski (1) John P. Sullivan (1)

Description: Dorsal: 1/7, Anal: 4/4-9 Characteristic of this species is the smooth anterior face of the dorsal spine, the narrow separation of the eyes and the large size of the eyes. Colouration: Pale grey to cream coloured with dark brown to black blotches which may  run together to form irregular broad transverse bars. Belly uniformly black (nigriventris). The fins are often darkly spotted on a colourless ground. Aquarium Care: In groups of 5 or more individuals; minimum aquarium size 80 cm. A very social Synodontis. Diet: Oviparous, Feeds mainly at night on insects, crustaceans and plant matter. A good diet of a good quality flake food, tablet food, frozen bloodworm and live food such as daphnia should suffice. Remarks: There is another variety which you can see in the three thumbnails named S. nigriventris "zebra". It may be an undescribed species or it may be just a colour variety of the normal nigriventris, only time will tell on this issue. The normal nigriventris comes from all over the Congo drainage and the "zebra" variety from the region around the town of Kutu, Bandundu and Lac Leopold 11 in the Dem. Republic of the Congo.

Upside-down catfish

Synodontis ornatipinnis

Mochokidae

Africa: Central Congo basin.

9.0cm. (3½ins)

22-26°C (71-79°F)

6.5-7.2.

ScotCat Factsheet no. 068. Feb. 2002