I think it's a good idea to have similar species which are already well adapted and eating. I do suspect we have much to learn about the husbandry of some of these lesser known "micro-loricaridae." My impression is that they are specialists which are adapted to narrow ecological niches. Still, they ...

Well the spirulina powder was a bust. The brand I got is a super fine powder that just clouds the water it's not even big enough to sink. I'll stick to Repashy for now. I've also started introducing small piece of Xtreme Scrapers wafer and I think a couple of them have taken interest so far.... I ...

These Rineloricaria are more carnivorous. I'm sure they eat some algae, but I'm growing them out on live microworms. When they're a little bigger, I'll move them to a greenhouse grow-out tank that looks green with algae, and then I'll supplement the algae with shrimp flakes and later shrimp pellets ...

Congratulations and my compliments for capturing their spawning behavior in such detail.
I hope you have success with obtaining fry.

Thanks Eric, I've been checking in over the years but am no longer keeping a fish room. Only a couple of 10 gallon tanks in which I'm attempting to breed some kind of wild caught Betta spp. supposedly Betta coccina but my males lack any blue side blotches. I had my Nannoptopoma back when I was ...

I used to have 10 "Nannos " with a dozen Black Darter Tetras in a 20 long. They were always gathered on the area of bare glass the power head blasted in the substrate. Mine loved earthworm sticks. One hot summer day the powerhead died as did my Nannos, These miniature Loricarids are a fascinating ...

I have seen A. claro listed on price lists from https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/ from time to time but none today.

Two Tank, You really nailed it in your Columnaris comments.

I have this photo of juveniles I raised. They were over coarse, basalt, river worn sand.

Kink your siphon hose to control the flow. There is always a sweet spot between the density of the material and the water where the substrate will fall back into place. Crimp off completely as needed.

A small touch, which may contribute to the production of the simulated rainy season, is to lower the water levels to about 50% and use a powerhead to spray recirculated tank water so that it falls like rains or tributary inputs. This is also a good way to aerate the tank water; well oxygenated water ...

I may be full of beans, but I suspect that success with this species is highly dependent upon the vagaries of the conditions they are in kept in subsequent to initial capture through their way through the extended distribution system. I've long been amazed that the survival rates of wild caught fish ...

I don't see any reasons for using any Ich/Velvet meds especially a copper based preparation. It sounds like this specimen has been stressed too much by the other competition and successive treatment trials. I'd would put it in solitary. Be sure to give it some fine sand and refuges. Use high water ...

The benefits of simulating seasonal water cooling are likely overestimated by hobbyist breeders. The most influential factors with regard to water are usually the water change volume, frequency and chemistry.
Feeding of live foods is extremely helpful when it comes to obtaining breeding success.

It's fine for Corydoras. The material is not sharp edged and is, as you noted, less dense than most aquarium substrate materials. If it has any effects on water chemistry I never noticed it nor did my fishes' breeding ever seem inhibited by it. It is very expensive. It's worth it so don't mix in ...

Hi Dave,
Thanks. That hadn't occurred to me.

In the prior posts there are somethings called "venus factor" and "red smoothies to detox". Those are inserts not originally mine. Please correct. I have said many times that I hatched brine shrimp then harvest them all. That is more than I would need for a single feeding so I stored the unused ...

I always maintained breeding colonies with only one species per group. Who knows if pheromones are used by these fishes for some sort of signals or stimuli. It doesn't seem too farfetched although I never have depended upon this hypothetical. Liberal, frequent water changes plus several feedings of ...

I think there is something to your hypothesis. My experience with breeding LF Albino BN produced similar results.

TwoTankAmin,
Good explanation of the variables which are probably the most important factors affecting Hypancistrus spawning frequencies in captivity.

This is a great thread and I'm glad you guys all talked about this subject of TDS and experimenting with it. I had one question and forgive me if it was said already, I just skimmed through this thread didn't get the time to read all of it, but what is the TDS like in the Amazon for dry season and ...

I've never observed any obvious problems among a variety of Corydoras species when they have happened to be in circumstances where salt in the water may help with healing raw skin or fin tissue injuries or disease. I haven't had any reason to treat any C.panda in salty water. I have only used salt ...

Much of the variation in the intensity of their normal yellow color is due to their distress colors because they have been moved into photo tanks for better control over the fish by the photographer. Photoshop works well to artificially restore their usual looks. I agree that their patterns may vary ...

"Stress Coat" does nothing to diminish stress in fish. It is distress we do not want and it doesn't work on that either.
I recommend SeaChem's Prime as a de-chlorination product.
It sounds like you bought an already dying Corydoras.

When I was breeding Peckoltia compta and small Hypancistrus species, I used to keep Cherry Shrimp with them. Never any other fish. I'd thin out the shrimp and feed them to my wild Scalare and Blue Discus as a side benefit. Congrats on the spawning of your L397's. They appear to be a pretty pleco. I ...

I wish my knowledge was deeper on this subject. My thanks for you fellows for looking into this and trying to help. My simplest solution is to enjoy planetcatfish by using Firefox. My ISP is Cable One, a ViaCom subsidiary. They have forced upon it's subscribers a strange hybrid of their ...

I seem to get about the same results as your's although I'm not certain I am interpreting the tests correctly. I could not get the link/URL you used so I used the planetcatfish homepage for the tests. Google Chrome is my default browser using Adblock Plus and LastPass extensions. Here is the link to ...

I put about 150, month old, Corydoras paleatus in an outdoor pond late one spring. I harvested them in early September. I used a wading pool about 6 ft in diameter and 12 inches deep. The fry did not grow as fast as they did indoors at 80*F. It was just for fun and the fry were expendable, had it ...

Sometimes I can get to another page quicker by right clicking and selecting " open in new tab".
I forgot to mention that I use Google Chrome web browser although Firefox has not proven to work any better.
It made me feel a bit better after seeing bekateen's post.

Hi, I have been meaning to report a problem with extremely slow speeds I encounter navigating within the site. Speed hasn't been a problem in years past but for more than 8 months it has. It takes 30 to 60 seconds for me to click on a topic or load a post. I'm using a Dell Studio 1749 laptop with an ...