They look very similar to photos I took when I moved my group of inspectors a while back...at that time they were still called 102's (Damn am I old). It would be nice to get new shots once they settle in a bit.

well, they spawned again and after a couple days I decided to take the eggs (I never do this). One was white so I removed it but the rest look good so far. I now have 4 from the previous 2 spawns and an egg mass of probably 30 eggs or so. Not sure that I will have better luck than a male L-200 but I ...

Well, the 2 from the second spawn are looking good and appear to be eating and growing, they are a metallic gray at the moment. But the good news is that the male has another batch of eggs that he seems to be taking better care of. I will keep updating this post as to his progress.

Today they are totally pigmented and the yolk sack/stomach almost absorbed...what are the best "first" foods?

Thanks

So, they laid eggs again a couple weeks ago, the male kept them longer but still kicked them out. I was able to isolate 4 of them with only 2 currently surviving but they have some pigment and are pretty darn cute. Wish me luck!

If you got this one in a large-ish group from the same location, I would say leave them together, call them 66 until someone can definitively tell you otherwise. I also have groups w/out names or numbers that I just keep together because that's how I got them a long while ago (316, LDA-81, Big spot ...

The update is, is that I lost all 4 . I wasn't expecting much since he kicked them out and only a few eggs survived. It's a start so I am just waiting for the next trapping...

I only ended up with 4 but they appear to be sucking the bottom of the catch bin so maybe they'll do alright. I know once they start spawning they'll cycle pretty well so that's good.

People that know me will confirm...I never move the caves, or anything else for that matter :oops: . The only reason I collected the egg was to see how long until they hatched out. The male decided to kick out the group stuck to other egg shells so I collected those too, not expecting much. Well ...

Sorry, did not notice the Porphyra typo

We were able to differentiate the single cell thick blades of different species. So, basically no morphological differnces due to overlapping ranges for size and width but different after cutting the rRNA segment.

I know that in a lab we used to colaborate with we were able to differentiate the various species of Prphyra from the east coast using rRNA amplification and RFLP. Are some thinking this would not work with Hyps?

Does anyone know if anyone is performing ribosomal or similar work to potentially genetically identify the different Hypancistrus? It seems as though this type of work would "look past" the natural variation within a group if we found the right part to analyze.

A little update. The male kicked one egg out of the cave, possibly it cam loose from the egg mass, not sure. I isolated it and it appears to be fertile. The male is at least 8 inches from nose to tail and fairly wide and very bristled.

Today the female was out of the cave and at first I could see nothing as he had the end of the cave blocked. Further inspection later on showed that he had an egg mass in front of him. Now I'll sit on my hands and let him do the work.

Here is a bit about the tank and the group to answer some of the above questions. First off, when I say I run low tech set ups I guess I mean I don't test for anything or do anything special to trigger any of my groups. I have been keeping tanks since 1977 and after a while you go by look and feel ...

Like the title says, I have a male L-200 that has had a female trapped 7 days. It would be his first spawn and the first time I have ever seen a female in the cave with him. From what I can tell the female still looks in good shape and not beat up. During this time I have done 2 water changes to the ...

"The strange pattern" is not all that strange. Is a Giraffe with a funny pattern not a Giraffe? I have L-46 with funny patterns due to genetics or a fight...I even have a male with a "lyretail" because of a fight that never "healed"...still L-46.

Both look like 46's to me. The one looks a little on the beat up side though. What makes you doubt it's a 46?

My problem mixing the two was always getting the proper food to both. To get the syno's to grow they can use a "meatier" diet which does not always suit the Tropheus...

Looks like a 46 with a slight wavy pattern.

Chart this up to another discussion forum success! Great input from all and I can't wait to see some pictures Viktor.

Wow. After reading through the amount of materials and silicone you must use (between each layer) I am guessing it's hard to keep it "nice looking. I searched a few pond type places and found 3 inch bulheads for between 20 and 70 dollars.

Eventhough you found the one to use, I would not use it to seal plastic to plastic, it will eventually leak.

I'll take your concerns in backwards order. The scrubbers are fine as long as that's all they are. Some have soap already in them, just be careful. The silicone you mentioned is the one I think most people use but my concern is what you are attaching to make these inlets and outlets. When you are ...

If you have a chance at smaller ones, I would go with a few (3) of the big ones and 7 of the smaller ones (adjust according to budget).

With the potential size of the adonis, might it be best to get rid of the syno and not replace it with another? Maybe you could save the money from selling the syno and feeding it, to buy the monster tank the adonis will eventually need.

I personally have 14 adults in a 30 gallon (110 litre-ish) breeder style tank with at least 4 different spawns in the tank at any one time. If I followed the one fish per square foot rule I could have 4.5 fish. My guess is, either stick to "the rules" or over crowd to differ some agression.

The problem still remains. We are told the fish came from a certain collection point and have no way of knowing if it is right. Also, in the current era of "creatively" moving fish from one spot to another we'll for sure never know where they really came from. Regardless, if someone else has fish ...

Since L #'s are basically assignments based on location, look and morphology, you are probably best off just keeping the groups together from the same location and waiting to grow more out. I have a few groups like that, just keeping them in a "species" tank to get a better representation.

If you ordered these in bulk, it would be interesting to see how the rest of the batch looked to get a nice "average" look. If this is the only one, do you know the location or any other info?