Cuckoo Catfish

Synodontis multipunctatus

The cuckoo catfish is known and named for it's very unusual breeding habits. It uses the same technique as the cuckoo bird; it replaces the eggs of a different species with it's own spawn. It had a light coloured body covered in large brown spots. Being mainly nocturnal it may only make brief appearances during the daytime.

A large aquarium should be home to your cuckoo catfish. Decorate it with fine sand and lots of rock rubble. This will help recreate the substrate found where it originates. Stack some of the rocks to create caves where the fish can retire to for rest.

Breeding Cuckoo Catfish

For best results a group of perhaps six synodontis multipunctatus should be housed together. Cuckoo catfish can only be bread in unison with a mouth brooding cichlid. When the cichlids are spawning the cuckoo catfish will race in and deposit it's own eggs so that the female cichlid will scoop them up in her moth. The catfish will also consume a number of the cichlid eggs to make way for her own planted eggs. 

Inside the female cichlid's mouth the catfish eggs are incubated and hatch. The tiny cuckoo catfish fry hatch 3 days faster than the cichlid eggs and begin eating the competing fish before they can develop. During this entire time the female cichlid is none the wiser.

Fry development is rapid. The best food for baby cuckoo catfish is more cichlid eggs so consider spawning some further cichlids just for this purpose. Minced frozen bloodworms are also accepted. Some cuckoo catfish fry will cannibalize their brothers and sisters so consider separating them as soon as practical.

Many cichlid varieties are suitable as host fish. In general you want a species that is not overly aggressive to catfish, is easy to breed and lays a lot of small eggs. Some suggested varieties are the blue dolphon cichlid (Cyrtocara moorii) or one of the Haplochromis cichlids.

Some cuckoo catfish owners experience a decline in reproduction as the host cichlids cotton on to what is happening. To remedy this just swap the fish to an aquarium with some new mouth breeders.

Family - Mochokidae

Size - Typically less than 20cm but can be even larger

Fish Origin - Lake Tanganyika, Africa

Water - Hard alkaline conditions. PH 8 to 9

Temperature - 22-26°C

Feeding - Frozen foods, dried shrimp flakes & snails

Sexing - Males identical but much smaller than females

Breeding - Complex and unusual parasitic egg layer

Aquarium - Needs a large aquarium especially when breeding

Sterbai's Cory | Glass Catfish | Eel Tail Catfish | Sailfin Plecostamus
Bronze Corydoras | Bristlenose Catfish | Banjo Catfish | Whiptail | Aquarium Fish