I do believe they had done some damage to the plantlife there.

I'll bet they did!

We have a park here in Tucson called Aqua Calliente. It has a lake that's fed by a hot water spring and you can find all kinds of Tropicals swimming in there. People just dump their tanks out right off the foot ...

Do you know of any Tropicals that are established in AZ waters? I doubt the pacus are still alive today unless the creek is fed with a warm water spring because the water just gets to cold here in the winter.

I'm in Tucson, where are you?

I think it's a good idea to selectively breed humans...
People that have a long history of criminal activity should be fixed. Then they wouldn't pass it down to future generations

Hmm. . Perhaps you´re only trying to stirr things up in here. . and I know, it hasn´t much to do with breeding ...

Most fish taken from their natural habitats die before reaching the hobbyists tanks.

It may cost the lives of 3 gold nuggets to get one safely in your tank. I don't know what the percentages are with the L numbers but they are high and may be a lot higher than that.

Some importers have stopped ...

You will need to start with Ancistrus (if you have not already) as they are the key first stepping stone. Once you are pretty confident breeding them, and more importantly are consistantly raising the fry, you can certainly branch out .

Shane,

Thanks, I appreciate the reply.

What Ancistrus ...

Are the Corydoras people as passionate about longfin Corys and other aquarium strains?

I think I see why there's such passion with the pleco lovers around this subject of the longfins.

The longfins in themselves really aren't all that bad but they are the first popular mutation and as a result represent the key to Pandora's Box of having "parrot" plecos.

BTW... I see they now have a ...

I think it's a good idea to selectively breed humans...

People that have a long history of criminal activity should be fixed. Then they wouldn't pass it down to future generations. No more hearing, "My dad was a crook, his dad was a crook and his dad was a crook." The buck stops here! In a few ...

To all:

What would be an attractive, easy to maintain and prolific spawning L number to start out with?

They really don't need high temps like many of the L numbers. Just a regular tropical temp of 76-82 will do fine. They are so anxious it's hard to stop them from breeding.

From what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an expert) they can tolerate many water conditions and temps because ...

Right now they're just pretty fish!

That says a lot. For many years they were just considered scavengers. But people are wising up a little over the years. Maybe that's one reason few have pursued breeding them. After all they are "only scavengers." IMO many are better looking than any freshwater ...

Is this hard to do?
No, they breed just like the common brown and albino bristlenose

What kind of water conditions
hard or soft water doesn't matter. But to get an equal amount of sexes from the fry you may try a pH of 7-7.5. I've bred them in hard alkaline water and get a majority of males ...

You must have posted yours at the same time and missed my answer on how to breed them. See my last post.

>>Just add water, a cave and a pair and feed them heavy on bloodworms... instant fry! Hard or soft water, who cares? No current, they don't mind. They'll also breed in dirty water. They have a ...

I missed it, where was it concluded the long fin is a hybrid? I've always thought of it at a mutation.

As having bred them myself, the fry are a little slower growing and weaker than the normals. But with more selective breeding :wink: this can be bred out of them.

I guess people like them because ...

It takes 18 months for an L number to reach one inch in size?

Let me just throw out this and see what you think. I'm far from an expert but willing to learn. I've been told the only dumb question is the one that's not asked :)

Put 2 trios of sexually mature L014 "Goldies" in a 220 gallon tank ...

I wouldn't think breeders would start out by growing out fry for their future breeding stock. First of all fry aren't available very often as opposed to wild caught stock. Wouldn't a potential "L" number breeder start out with wild caught fish to begin with as a calvus breeder would?

The article by ...

Here's another thought. :idea:

If it's morally wrong to selectively breed for an outstanding trait because it genetically weakens the strain, then it's also morally wrong to commercially mass collect these fish from the wild and bring them into captivity. If we could only imagine the percentage of ...

Well, I personally don't care if they cross a parrot cichlid with a long finned bristle nose, and get a parrot bristle nose pleco cichlid, as long as they like it. I don't see the harm. I might hate it like I do fancy goldfish but I don't have to look at it in my tanks. I don't believe fish keeping ...

I have bred them and they aren't any harder than the normal brown or albino bristle nose.

The genetics are really screwy though. For example, I have a pair of heterozygous long fin browns and they produce equal amounts of four kinds of fish. Brown normal finned, brown long finned, albino normals ...

Is there any commercial breeding of the colorful "L" number plecos going on in tanks or even in ponds?

I read in the Larry Vires book he was trying it at one time but didn't get very far.

I would tend to think it would be a great service to make these beautiful fish available to all at a ...