My new acquisitions :)

[andywoolloo]

my favs are your 340s and your 226s... stunning.

I mean they are all beauties!! but my favs are those two.

[2wheelsx2]

so what makes you prefer the L128 to the L200s you have at the moment? How do they differ in behaviour in your tank?

I had an opportunity to answer this question tonight, so here's why:



The L200's would never let me get this close.

And while I was at it, I managed to snap a lousy pic of my L190:

[Flyfisher]

2wheels,
great pics, thanks for showing. It's funny how your L128s are so bold and yet other people, (I think mats) hardly ever see theirs. Maybe yours are happier because they've got their L200 buddies with them. Lol (I couldn't resist, hehe!)

sometimes a mixed tank seems to make fish feel comfortable and other times not. Maybe your L200s in their next home will become more adventurous, who knows.

I'm interested that your plecs behave differently now the oscar and dollars are out of their way. My L134 who used to come out quite alot hardly does now. And I put this down to my dollars taking over the whole tank now that they're around 4 inch. I'm looking forward to seeing how it behaves when I transfer the dollars to a larger tank fairly soon.

I don't think were getting anywhere on the cross breeding issue, but that's ok huh. You have no wish to even do this so I hope people adopt a live and let live attitude and try to resist ramming their views on how they think the hobby should proceed. I think we all need to remind ourselves that it is just that, a hobby. And in the grand scheme of things we cannot really do great harm keeping fish in our homes. Like I said, the amazon is enormous and none of us are considering re stocking it with pure or cross bred fish. It's a bit of a shame the closed minds are so hard to open. I understand the reasons for them wanting to minimise cross breeding, but at the end of the day, life is life, an. In my opinion and I hope many others agree, life should be celebrated.

Cheers to ya!

[2wheelsx2]

I'm interested that your plecs behave differently now the oscar and dollars are out of their way. My L134 who used to come out quite alot hardly does now. And I put this down to my dollars taking over the whole tank now that they're around 4 inch. I'm looking forward to seeing how it behaves when I transfer the dollars to a larger tank fairly soon.

I don't know people get the idea that silver dollars are good dither fish. My experience with them are horrid. One actually killed itself during a water change by swimming full tilt along the length of my 6 foot tank and ramming into the glass. Since they've been out of my tank, everyone has been calmer most of the time. I'm lacking something though. I have to find some bigger dither fish (maybe black skirt tetras?) to calm the tank down a bit. I'll have to start a thread on this.

[Flyfisher]

That's a good point, and it seems they get this way when they reach a certain size too doesn't it. Mine are doing similar things and I try my best to move slowly and not knock things but it's unavoidable really. I still love them though and I really hope mine calm down a little in their new home soon. I'm sorry to hear you lost one in this way, that's such a shame
Dither fish, well I love tetras and have chosen to keep lemons so I'm probably going to buy more and have 20 to 30. Black skirts are nice. So are serpae, and eeveyone says they're not good community fish but with catfish I think they'd be a welcome addition in colour and movement. If it's something larger you're after, what about columbian tetra? They're available as blue/red and I saw a shoal of these once that really looked stunning!
Cheers

[2wheelsx2]

The biggest problem with me is my cichlids. They need to be large enough not to be swallowed.

[Flyfisher]

I just edited my last post in thinking about larger dither fish.

[2wheelsx2]

Just thought I would post a pic of the L090. He's not as shy as the L190 now that he's gotten used to the tank and my kid running around. Loves his zuchinni



More detailed head shot:

[2wheelsx2]

My L190 decided he really liked peas. Hadn't fed them peas since I got him.

[Flyfisher]

Great pics! But I really love that green tail flashing across the last pic
they all look stunning.

[2wheelsx2]

Yeah, now that I've removed the Oscar and the SD's (not sure which one caused the change), all the plecos are much more active when feeding. The JD's are not nearly as dominant in the tank as the O and the SD's were during feeding time.

[2wheelsx2]

Got a great shot of an L340 male (?) tonight:



I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying these guys. I am hoping to get a few more and give them their own breeding tank to give them a try.

[sampster5000]

How do you know if it is okay to keep certain plecos with each other? How do you know they wont fight?

[2wheelsx2]

I'm relying on space/territory. There are some minor squabbles but with the numerous caves, plants branches rocks and nooks and crannies, everyone has his/her own space. In a smaller tank, I wouldn't know.

[MatsP]

How do you know if it is okay to keep certain plecos with each other? How do you know they wont fight?

Aside from fighting (which as Gary says, can be solved with enough space and hiding places - however, beware of changes as the fish grows!), one thing you have to watch out for is "food incompatibility". If you keep fishes that are mostly vegetarian with fish that eat a lot of meaty food, you may end up with the vegetarian fish getting too much protein, resulting in internal infections.

I think most of Gary's fish are omnivores, so I think it should be fine in food aspect as well.

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

Thanks for elaborating Mats. I didn't want to give too much advice as I'm pretty n00bish myself. I have been keeping a close eye, and so far no problems. One thing I have found that works well for me with fish with mixed dietary requirements is that my Hypans and omivorous plecos like the Hemiancistrus and Baryancistrus seem to come out and feed in the light, while the more herbivorous ones like the L190 and L90 only come out in the dark. So I feed heavy meat based food in the main part of the tank with lights on and then when lights are out I put in the wafers/fresh veggies close to the herbivores and so far it's been working well for me.

I should add that one of my L264 appears to be gravid, but so far, no interested females.

[sampster5000]

The caves and hiding places must be a big deal then. I had a gold nugget, adonis, and a orinoco in a 35 gallon but i had no hiding places because i wanted to actually see them. Ich took over the tank. Everyone survived but the 3 plecos. The ich came when the nugget was introduced.

[2wheelsx2]

The caves and hiding places must be a big deal then. I had a gold nugget, adonis, and a orinoco in a 35 gallon but i had no hiding places because i wanted to actually see them. Ich took over the tank. Everyone survived but the 3 plecos. The ich came when the nugget was introduced.

Well, it helps to not have the two of the most aggressive plecos....the gold nugget and the adonis would be trouble even in a 125, pretty much right off the bat.

[sampster5000]

I thought it would be fine due to them all being under 2 inches still but I guess not. My regular pleco and hi fin in my 75 gallon have white spots on them but I cant figure out what it is. It doesnt look like ich because the white spots seem to jump around on their body. I have never seen this before and I cant find any info about it on the internet. Ive got bad luck with plecos

[2wheelsx2]

Start a new thread with pics and I'm sure these guys can help you. I've learned a lot here.

[sampster5000]

Thanks. Good idea.

[andywoolloo]

that L340 is incredible.

[2wheelsx2]

Unfortunately, that particular L340 didn't make it. Not sure if it was mating aggression or some other problem, but I found him dead (full belly) about a week after that picture was taken. Good news is, I found 5 replacements for him, but the replacements are in my planted 20 now. All my CO2 injected tanks are running air at night now, thanks to the advice of this column and everyone seems happy.

And of course, I have other acquisitions (I think I discussed the fact that I had L239's, but I can't get a good pic yet). Here's a pic of the one of the 5

Baryancistrus demantoides

I had been waiting for. Now I just have to find a new home for the two

Hemiancistrus subviridis

.

[andywoolloo]

Sorry to hear about your L340, and would love some L239 shots when ever you can manage it.

wow, you have alot of incredible pl*cos. (drools)

[2wheelsx2]

Thanks. I'm in negotations with my wife to upgrade my 20 gallon to a bigger tank to be able to move either the L128 or L200 colony upstairs so I can have even more. I'm totally addicted to plecos. I just got an L114 also, but have not been able to get a pic.

[2wheelsx2]

Added a few of these guys. I must say this is the best batch my source has ever got. I couldn't help but pick up quite a few:

[andywoolloo]

very beautiful.

[sterlingtjones]

Your tank is awesome, love all the java fern at top, and rock work... and of course the plecs!

How pleco crazy have you gone? how many did you get in the last 30 days ?

How many have died? You mentioned one..

[2wheelsx2]

I've had 6 die. 4 seeming of unknown causes. L264, L340, L90 and L226. All were healthy with no signs of disease. I had 2 L52 die which seem to be some sort of egg bloat (although I didn't do autopsies). As for how many I got in the last 30 days, maybe a dozen( I guess 15 all together)? I don't buy lots, but there was a nice batch of L239 that a local vendor brought in and I couldn't resist and got a group of 12. I recently got 2 L114 also and that L152. Are you on Canadapleco.com? I post some there, but mostly stick to my local forum at bcaquaria.com

[2wheelsx2]

Just for giggles, here's a lousy shot of the left side of the tank. You can see an L239 on the glass at the far left next to the wood. That piece of wood is newer and still not fully sunk yet (wedged in). Sorry for the reflections, but my kids were playing (this is their playroom) so I couldn't turn the light off.