Care
The Featherfin Catfish is known from a wide variety of habitats throughout the Chad, Cross, Kwa Ibo, Niger, Volta, and White Nile basins. This attractive bottom dweller has a beautiful colour pattern that changes as the fish matures; the reticulated markings gradually morphing into simple spots. A distinctive, high dorsal fin also develops with age, the first few fin rays becoming elongated and feathery, and when spread wide, it resembles an elaborate fan. The aquarium should be spacious (at least 4ft long for juveniles) 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, 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. More than one may be kept together providing that there is an abundance of hiding places and visual barriers within the tank, and they may often be observed resting in the infamous upside-down
Synodontis position underneath plants or decor. 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 some of the medium sized tetras, barbs, gouramis, knifefish, large loricariids, rainbowfish, or some of the robust West African cichlid species. These fish should not be kept alongside Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlids on account of the aggressive nature of Rift Lake cichlids, and incompatible water conditions. Although commonly available, this is not a good species for the average community aquarium ; indeed, for smaller set-ups it would be better to consider slightly more petite species such as the Upside Down Catfish (
S. nigriventris). May also be seen on sale as Featherfin Squeaker or Featherfin 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 it is bred commercially via hormone injection. In the wild, these egg scatterers form distinct pairs when breeding, but exhibit no parental care.
