Care
The Decorated Catfish is known from the Congo River basin, with exception of the Luvua and Luapula drainages. It is also found in the Lukuga River, a tributary of the Lualaba River that drains Lake Tanganyika. The aquarium should be spacious with a soft sandy substrate in order to protect the long sensory barbels. It should be decorated with a good amount of bogwood, rocky caves/PVC tubes, and robust planting to provide shady areas/visual barriers, but you should also ensure that a roomy swimming space is left along the front of the tank. External canister filtration is recommended, as these fish are voracious eaters and can produce a fair amount of waste. The water should be well-oxygenated with a moderate current, and frequent partial water changes are a must to help keep nitrate to a minimum. These fish are most comfortable in aquaria with subdued lighting, and the use of blue-moon type illumination is highly recommended so that you may observe a few hours of the nightly goings-on in an aquarium containing these catfish. A gregarious species, S. decorus should be kept in groups of 5 or more for their continued wellbeing. Ensure that heaters are covered with heater guards to prevent these catfish from being burned when looking for dark crevices to rest against. Companions should be peaceful and larger than 5cm (2") in length (otherwise they may be predated upon); good tankmates could include medium-large sized barbs and characins, adult rainbowfish, large peaceable cichlids, or Loricariids. Do not house with species renowned for fin-nipping, on account of the showy, lengthy dorsal filament that this catfish develops with age. May also be seen on sale as Clown Squeaker or Decorated Synodontis.
Feeding
Omnivorous. Offer a variety meaty frozen foods such as bloodworm, white mosquito larvae, vitamin-enriched brineshrimp, Mysis shrimp etc., along with some sinking catfish pellets/tablets/granules. Be sure to offer some vegetable matter such as cucumber, courgette, and shelled peas, along with occasional algae wafers. These are greedy fish, and are a little susceptible to bloating so take care not to overfeed, and go easy on the amount of dried foods given - avoiding all floating foods.
Breeding
This species has not been bred in the home aquarium, although is bred on a commercial basis via hormone injection. In the wild, these egg scatterers form distinct pairs when breeding, but exhibit no parental care.
