Keeping Mbuna and synodontis catfish together. Can the Mbuna breed?

[HughJanus]

I have a 55 gallon Mbuna tank with about 5 month old mbuna (28 fish) and  synodontis lucipinnis catfish also about 6 months old (11 fish) and one very large lucipinnis that the LFS claims is almost ten years old.

 

My question is about the tendency for these catfish to eat cichlid eggs and im wondering if anyone else has had sucess with these fish breeding in a tank together.

 

Thank you for your time

Sam

[OnlyGenusCaps]

So, I don't have the two together, but someone I know does, and he gets cuckoo breeding with the Synodontis and still gets brood from the mbuna.  In theory, should work.  Love to her about your experience if you try it!

[laritheloud]

I keep lucipinnis in a 55 gallon but not with mbunas. Mine are very young, maybe around 2 inches max and I purchased them at 1 to 1.5 inches. You can always wait and see. If there are problems, maybe reduce the number of catfish in there and see if it improves brood sizes.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Most of the Malawi Mbuna are mouth brooders as are the haps. Cuckoo cats do this trick to egg layers so don’t think it’ll be an issue.