L-168 male on eggs today

[Fantasticfins]

This is my first spawn of L-168. I took the best pics I could. He was fanning so hard, I had to take a million pics to get a couple with a view of the eggs.
male on eggs


female

[Carp37]

Lovely fish- they look great.

[UncaToddly]

Congrats. I am curious though what the species is in the 2nd pic with the shrimp on the filter. The spots don't look like any of the wild L-168s I have?

Todd

[drpleco]

Like all striped plecos, the pattern varies from fish to fish. See the pics here that show 168's with spots:
http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/image. ... ge_id=2083
http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/image. ... ge_id=2214


The second pic with the shrimp shows the female L168.

[UncaToddly]

Like all striped pl*cos, the pattern varies from fish to fish. See the pics here that show 168's with spots:
http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/image. ... ge_id=2083
http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/image. ... ge_id=2214


The second pic with the shrimp shows the female L168.

The first one doesn't really show too much in the way of spots (at least not to my eye) but is much like mine are when they are on a dark background or hidden away. Looking at the 2nd pic multiple times (as I had all of them of course) I guess I could see where the variation comes in. I just had always seen them as "broken" bands/stripes for lack of a better term.

The more distinctly round spots on the female with the shrimp give it a very nice look. Have you had fry from her before? If so, is that characteristic more of a unique and random aberration or is it something that seems to be genetic.

I have tried to find any info on sexing them but haven't really had much luck. Are there any physical characteristics that can help differentiate the sexes? Forgive me, I am new and I know that with many species it doesn't seem too easy to sex them

Thanks

Todd

[Barbie]

I think this was his first spawn with these fish, going by his post. Sexing the fish will require mature specimens, unless you are pretty practiced at it, and even then you can be way off. There's a great article on Loricariidae reproduction in the Shane's world section. It's detailed how to differentiate for most species. L168 should definitely follow the same general rules.

Barbie

[Janne]

At mature Dekeyseria species is the males ventralfins elongated and quite larger then the females smaller and rounded fins, very visible looking from the above. Males also grow longer odontodes on their pectoralfins, at very large males these odontodes can reach easily 15 mm or more.

Janne

[N2Biomes]

Congrats on the spawn, Dale! This is a species I'd love to have in my tanks. Looking forward to more photos please.

[Fantasticfins]

After almost 48 hours, the male has kicked a few out and they are hatching. There were many bad eggs attached to these, and there are still quite a few left in the cave.