For those who have these fish you will most likely agree with what I am about to say. The fish is called African Featherfin cats. They are unlike many fish in your tank and if you study them enough you will soon discover they are real jokers. They will tease and annoy fish like crazy and even you. I have 2 of them, and the one I call Whiskers, is my first and most colorful character of the 2. He is with my oscars and big pleco. He loves it in there and he frankly is to goofy to go anywhere else. He is a trouble maker, but always fun loving. He will come to you if you catch his attention and then start playing a hide and seek game with you.
The pair that I have I have not sexed yet. They however to fight each other quite a bit. This is a dish it out but can't take it fish. They will annoy each other until one gets it feeling hurt and he nails the other. Outside of that, its an amazing fish. It is a slow grower. When I got mine it was about 2 inches long. Today after about a year he is about 6 inches long. They will grow to 9 inches. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few beyond that.
In most of my studies I have found that they enjoy slightly salty water. Mine have always been in fresh water with just a little bit of salt added for everyone. They have done well and presented to be really hardly.
This is a species well worth trying out and a good deal of fun comes from these guys. I will pull up some data on them to give you a more thorough understanding.

Specs:
Synadontis Eruptis, African Featherfin catfish
temps- 72-80 degrees F
pH 6.2 -7.8
hardness 8-15
size- up to 9 inches
behavior- territorial but peaceful.

Nice info. Thanks for the insight. Sounds like a great aquatic pet to keep around. I do not have any but sounds like it could be fun. Any pics?

Well here is my avatar pic- I have two as well and they are bullies. They managed to kill my 5inch pleco so i moved it to another tank and it damaged my 8 inch pleco. I have two "FREE TO A GOOD HOME"

Wow they love my pleco. Hes 13-14 inches though. Are you sure they killed him?

Oh yea! They put on a show on superbowl sunday in front of a full house. I was grilling and by the time i was told they tore all the fins off the pleco. They did really well with my Pacu's though. I see them at lfs's all the time mixed with other types of fish, maybe I got a bad apple or something.

i think you might have bought the one with rabies.

I'm moving this to the library! Its such a good run down on the fish and its behavior. Add a picture in the first post when you can please.

I think they are also great fish, a bit different, nice to look at, and have also experienced mild to medium aggression with other large bottom dwellers.

I have some 6" ers and they will commonly bully my 6" pleco out of hiding places.

I do hear they are very aggressive with each other and other Syno's, and I also experience that - they chase each other around quite a bit.

Hardy too... they've been through quite a few setups with me in over a year, with quite a few different fish, from cichlids, to angels, community fish and larger aggressive fish, and several different water conditions and temperatures, and have never shown ill effects.

I remember growing up, maybe 20-25 years ago, always wanting to own one... I believe they were way more expensive back then.


Here are some pics of mine and a short vid.

Thanks for the post!

Spelling change needed!

The scientific name of this fish is:

Synodontis euptera

Synodontis = from the Greek, meaning teeth together
euptera = also from the Greek, meaning beautiful wing (referring to the large fins)

One of the moderators should change the spelling in the subject line ASAP. A google search will not pick up anything valid unless the correct spelling is used, that's why I'm mentioning it.

Many sources still list this species as Synodontis eupterus. This is now a valid synonym, but the correct binomial is Synodontis euptera.

Very nice catfish. One of my wifes fav. fish.

Nice i wanna get some of those too, Kory told me those are great catfish...

I have 1 5" in with my mix Frontosa's and other tanq fish, he is definetly the boss of the tank and even tangles with my female Brichardi I have in the tank. I also have 2 1.5" fry in my Demasoni/Snow White Socolofi tank, there to small now to be a threat and seem to really like the hang side ways on the back of the tank during the day.