peppermint catfish

[x_davo_x]

hi there guys ive got a quick question for ya i'll throw it out there anyway here goes.

i got a pair of peppermint catfish male and femle about 5.5cm long from my local fish shop (he ordered something and got sent them) so he said i could have them for a 6pk. now i currently breed bristlenose catties and just started l168's. now how big do the peps have to be to breed and and what actions have to be taken to bring on spawning,or are they simalar to the bristlenose.anyway guys ill leave that with ya any info on these guys would be great

cheers dave

[MatsP]

Do you mean peppermint plecos? Unfortunately there are a few different fish called that, so to say for sure what size it grows to is not that easy.

The one we list under that name here is

Parancistrus nudiventris

, but I know that just about anything dark brown with (most often small) white spots can be for sale under that name.

I'm tempted to move this to the Loricariidae forum, but I'll wait for a reply to my first question.

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Mats

[x_davo_x]

sorry matz i should of explained a bit more im after the info for the standard peppermint bristlenose catfish not the pleco type sory for the confusion mate

cheers dave

[MatsP]

I'd say "no more than about 6", probably smaller", but we do not actually know precisely what it is that is sold under this name in Australia [at least to my knowledge it has not been assigned to any particular form of bristlenose in the Cat-eLog].

And I've now moved this topic to the right section.

--
Mats

[Shaun]

The fish sold in Australia as "Peppermint Bristlenose" is L071/L181/L249:

Ancistrus sp(l071)

Age is probably a bigger factor in breeding readiness, but I'd say they'd have to be 12cm or larger as most breeding pairs I've seen were at least this size. Also, they are notoriously difficult to sex until they hit sexual maturity as both males and females tend to develop bristles, they also seem to have a heirachy of sorts when kept in groups so the sub-dominant males develop a lot less bristles then the dominant ones. So...5.5cm seems a little on the small size to be positive about whether they're male/female.
HTH
Shaun

[Mod edit: Use clog tags --Mats]

[apistomaster]

I wondered which species of Ancistrus the Australian aquarists were keeping and breeding that was frequently referred to as "Peppermint Plecostomus". I had no idea they were such a large species. I thought they might be raising L182 or L184, not exactly dwarfs but not giants either.

[Shaun]

I had no idea they were such a large species.

I've seen them up around 18-20cm very rarely, more commonly 12-15cm. Maybe some populations grow larger then others and both are present here? Not sure. One bad thing about them in Oz is that more and more seem to be showing deformities, bent tails mostly. I'm assuming there must have been a small number of specimens to start with. They're not an allowable import so we can't replenish the gene pool either
Shaun