Synodontis notatus, by David Marshall

Synodontis notatus

By David Marshall
of the Ryedale Aquarist Society, North Yorkshire, England
Aquarticles

Synodontis notatus, which comes to us from the Congo Democratic Republic, has been around in the aquarium hobby far longer than many of its fellow Synodontis species.

Occasionally you may find this fish offered for sale as its cousin Synodontis ocellifer but the body spots of ocellifer are more plentiful, spread out and sit upon a white background body colour. Oldham aquarist 'Andy' reminded me that notatus are also sold alongside the similar looking Synodontis nummifer and congicus.

notatus 1 spot.jpg (71519 bytes)
Synodontis notatus © David Marshall

Aquarticles visitors may be familiar with our subject fish under the common names of Onespot Synodontis, Onespot Squeaker or Spotted Synodontis. This is based on the original specimens to arrive into the aquarium hobby, which had a muddy grey background body colour highlighted by one large dark spot. Today we know that some specimens have no spots whatsoever ('0' spot variant) while the '6' spot variant has as many as 6 large and 3 tiny (close to the caudal peduncle) spots upon their bodies. As visitors may by now have guessed , the number of large spots becomes the recognition variant, so a notatus with 3 large spots is the '3 spot variant' etc.

The large spots, or ocelli spots as they are also known, are seen as a row and sit, roughly, along the lateral line. This led to Synodontis ocellatus becoming a synonym name of Synodontis notatus.

Although they vary in size, the large body spots are often seen to roughly mirror the size of the eye, which with a dark pupil looks like a spot itself. If wild notatus move around in the company of more predatory species or need to confuse some particular predator then this would be a useful adaptation of nature as their company or predator would not know which 'eye' constituted soft facial tissue or harder body skin thus would not have an easy angle of attack We can see this adaptation at work through the caudal peduncle eyespot of another ocellatus, which this time hails from South American and us known to aquarists as the oscar cichlid (Astronotus ocellatus). In the wild oscars follow piranha packs scavenging what they can from the remains of the piranhas' prey items and having a 'false eye' thus protects the oscars from becoming the piranhas' next meal as it confuses these predatory characins as to which oscar 'eye' is real and which is false thus discouraging the piranhas from wasting valuable energy on what may prove a fruitless attack

At times notatus may have a weak and forlorn look about them but, as we shall soon see, this is far from the true picture.

In young notatus, who are much more active than adults, the body is straight aligned but as maturity is reached the body begins to arch. Although all the fins appear clear, the dorsal carries a light red hue. It is believed that at breeding time this red hue (like that in the fins of several African Barbus species) intensifies, particularly in the male, to become a pairing recognition signal.

Synodontis notatus is capable of growing to a size of 11" so an aquarium no smaller than 36x12x12" is required to house these fish. They prefer a high temperature of 27 C and a pH of 7. Substrate of fine gravel. They will spend time in ceramic caves but prefer to mid-water swim in open areas. This is not a greedy fish and feeding causes no problems as both large flakes and catfish pellets are avidly devoured.

Young notatus should not be kept with their own kind, whom they often loathe, and use 'pecking order' disputes as an excuse for further conflict. They will give no ground to Synodontis of any type, and of similar size, resorting to 'nip and 'bite' tactics in order to get their own way. It is surprising just how aggressive they can become (I place them on par with angelicus) attacking with all fins flared and erect. They will also take on 'all comers' in bouts of 'mouth wrestling'. At this stage Ctenopoma, large loricarins, medium-sized cyprinids and medium-sized cichlids are their best company.

As adults things change as these fish will live, as a single specimen, in relative harmony, but not giving way in any tussles over food items or territory, with other large growing members of the Synodontis genus, loricarins, Doradids and large cichlids. Living with their own kind though remains a different story as they continue to loathe the company of each other and although not as aggressive their increased physical power will see them take 'pecking order' feuding to a much higher level leaving physical damage to each other's bodies and fins. There are valid reports of notatus which have gone as far as killing each other in the confined space of aquaria.

Please remember that the pectoral spines of notatus are very sharp and thus can inflict damage to the human hand. Another thing they have in common with the oscar is that they can bite, which is something they will practice on any fish species that they become overly annoyed with, although whether this can have the same potential blood poisoning effect upon humans as that of their cichlid cousin I, thankfully, cannot confirm.

As far as breeding in the wild is concerned we see the same rainy season scenario as mentioned in my article on the clown squeaker (Synodontis decorus). From what we have already mentioned the red colouration in the dorsal fin increases at this time, and as well as a signalling point to potential partners perhaps it acts as a flag of placidity to ease the violent temper of mature adults during the spawning season? As yet I know of no aquarium spawning reports but commercial breeding is said to be underway in the Far East.