Pseudacanthicus Tips 'n' Tricks

[greatmoojin]

Hi All,

I took the jump and finally got my first pseudacanthicus about 6 months ago, have been housing in a 4 foot tank with 2 geophagus, 1 gold severum, 4 clown loach and 2 SAE. Tank has been established for about 2 years, PH 7, ammonia 0, twice weekly 20% water change, chunky Eheim pro II filter, internal UV filter, power head, bubble wall for extra oxygenation. So far so good, but now I'm wondering if it's actually good enough.

There's so much conflicting information on the web I'm trying to gather the best advice before i make any tank changes. My pseuda took about 1 year to actually find in New Zealand and i feel like she/he (actually called Mr Evil Pants) should absolutely be the boss of the tank. Mr Evil Pants is out and about a bit before feeding time and seems to get a fair share, but are the tankmates too boisterous for such a pleco? He's not the biggest fish in the tank and occasionally get's a bit of a nipped fin...

So, if any other Pseuda keepers out there have any tips and tricks for giving them the best possible quality of life in captivity i'd really like to hear from you Oh yeah - L114 or L600?

[MatsP]

I can perhaps help with the L600 vs. L114 question - I have an L114

Pseudacanthicus cf_leopardus

and I think that is what you have too: Your fish have clearly got spots on the whole head. L600,

Pseudacanthicus leopardus

.

Mine is quite shy, and is not in a tank with such boisterous companions, but I'm sure as long as there is only a LITTLE bit of argie-bargie, I'd say it's OK.

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Mats

[Linus_Cello]

Are you familiar with the article in Shane's World?
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... 3C%2Fem%3E

You've got quite a beaut. My largest one (about 4.5 inches) has a lot less orange in the caudal and dorsal fin ("L114 variety," though there seems to be some disagreement on ID'ing these based on the amount of orange in the fins), though 2 smaller ones do have more orange in the tail ("L600 variety"). I have 4 total.

Mine love bloodworms, blackworms, earthworm sticks and hikari wafers. NLS pellets will be eaten, but second to the aforementioned foods (though my other plecos seem to relish NLS pellets). Mine don't seem to touch veggies (zuchinni, carrots or sweat potato; would like them to eat something high in beta carotene to see if the orange would come out more). I've also tried feeding market shrimp, cooked and uncooked, and it goes untouched. I have lots of snails in my tank for them to snack on, but occasionally do I see an empty shell. When I first got mine, I noticed that the outer fibers on my coconut caves disappeared, so it seems they will eat coconut husk fibers.

If you're getting another one, make sure there's lots of driftwood for hiding, as they are quite territorial. Also, you may want to treat your water for chloramine, if it's used in NZ. In the U.S., water companies are notorious for switching between chlorine and cloramine without notifying customers. You've been using a de-chlorinator for several months, and your fish are healthy, and the next water change, they all die (because the de-cholrinator doesn't work for chloramine).

[PseudaSmart]

I would agree with Linus. My group of 6 L600's do not touch the green stuff. They love frozen krill and massivore pellets. Even when mine were smalller they were midly agressive and would stay on top of the driftwood even with my plant lights on. Now that they are bigger 7"-12" they fear nothing and charge across the tank. I used to ohave L114's and they had character as well. Enjoy!

Below is a photo of my largest one showing a little more color than the stock photo. I know there is a discussion if L600's are the same as L114's or a sub-varient. I will leave that to the pros because patterns alone do not qualify.

L600 Adult.JPG (21.77 KiB) Viewed 3896 times

[Linus_Cello]

Hey likesloaches- not sure why, but it doesn't look like your pic can be viewed. Can you post the pic again?
Also, can you post pics of your tank? I'd like some tank decorating ideas for these guys. Do you have any plants in the tank? How big is the tank? What type of filtration do you have? What else is in the tank?

[greatmoojin]

Thanks for the response, i'm not 100% on the L114/L600 thing. One day i see an L114, the next day i'm convinced he's a L600

I'll check the link out a bit later on.

Not sure if any one else does this, but i put Discus Trace in the water after doing a water change - everyone in the tank seems to really come alive and the colours seem a lot deeper. Mind you i could just be seeing things

My real problem is getting Mr Evil Pants to feel like he's the king of the tank. I spent this week only feeding 1 JBL Novo Tab at 6.30pm, and one after lights out, by sliding it through the gap between the tank and the lid, no other food for any other fish. It really seemed to encourage him to come out and move around and he never let anyone get near his food, but then tonight i took the lid off to feed everyone, and he's got scared and hidden away again and the Geophagus have stolen his food. Not good.

What tank mates are people using with Pseudas? Is it better to have dither fish smaller than the pleco to encourage him to come out?

Here's a photo of my set up, Pseuda made his home on the right hand side piece of driftwood where it's nice and dark:

[Steen]

I have a single L114 also, around 18 cm http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=29183, and at feeding time she's the boss at the lower levels in the tank. Companions are similar sized Clowns and Synodontis eupterus and some Archocentrus cichlids. I wouldn't fear that your beauty get it's share of the food.
Mine have been more and more visible with increasing size.
And older pic. show that she even like a bit of the green stuf

L114/L600 I would say that your specimen is a L600 due to the headmarkings and the amount of orange in the tail.

[MatsP]

I think the only really sure way to tell these apart is to know which river they are caught in. In my opinion [bear in mind that I'm not a scientist, and I tend to have a bit of a "lumping" tendency], L114 and L600 are the same species, but different geographic variants. L600 represents the Rio Rupununi form, and L114 is the Rio Negro variety.

It is quite clear if you look at the pictures that the fish are quite variable in both locations, so using one or another single body feature is probably not the best idea.

In the thread linked below, Janne says that one feature is spots on the head identifies as L114, lack of spots identify as L600. A darker base colouration is also an L600 indicator. Both of these are NOT present in the fish in the photos in this thread. Further, Rio Negro and Rio Demini are relatively easy to get to, Rio Rupununi's tributaries in Brazil are not at all easy to reach -> L114 is much easier to export for the aquatic trade [of course, both species are also illegal to export out of Brazil]
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=30018

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Mats

[Borbi]

Hi,

regarding the L 114/"L 600" issue:
the "form" from Rio Rupununi is the actual P. leopardus, and if I remember correctly, for some strange reason someone started calling them "L 600" (a number that does not exist as it has not been issued by DATZ).
The two forms differ in body height, base colouration and markings on the head (easiest recognized in subadult to adult specimen).
Usually, the true P. leopardus has more red, but this is not always the case.
See, for example, this exceptionally coloured P. sp. "L 114":


In this respect, all fish shown in this thread until now are P. sp. "L 114".

Cheers, Sandor

[MatsP]

for some strange reason someone started calling them "L 600" (a number that does not exist as it has not been issued by DATZ).

I think this is because the "L-number factor" that affects the price. The price of a Loricaridae is something like:
price = size * (unusualness + attractive_factor + has_lnumber)
So a very unusual fish that is attractive and has an L-number is more valuable in the trade than something that doesn't have an L-number, essentially. If you look at the "What's my catfish?", many people will want to know what the "L-number" is of their fish - even when it's a "common pleco", they would like to have a number - perhaps because it's easier to say/remember.

The number of 600 I suspect was chosen to reduce the risk of collisions with the existing numbers (there is still about 170 numbers that haven't been assigned until we are at 600).

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Mats

[PseudaSmart]

Sorry about the photo, here it is. For all my info check my posting 'L600 breeding and fry' This also has pictures. The fry are now black with small black spots.

L600 Adult.JPG (21.77 KiB) Viewed 3829 times

[dconnors]

Sorry about the photo, here it is. For all my info check my posting 'L600 breeding and fry' This also has pictures. The fry are now black with small black spots.

L600 Adult.JPG

WOW!!! That is a beautiful fish! Much more vibrant orangish red than what is normally seen in Pseudacanthicus cf. leopardus (L114). I would say that that particular fish is Pseudacanthicus leopardus, which for some bizarre reason people call L600 ( still haven't quite wrapped my head around that one). Really nice looking fish!

[greatmoojin]

Sweet, i'd agree with the L114 ID, so next question for anyone with any particular experience in this field - what kind of conditions should i be aiming for to give my Pseuda the best possible life? I'll be doing a load of research this weekend into the rivers mentioned above, but if any one has any quick pointers and specifically any ideas for tank mates i'd really appreciate it

Oh, on the feeding front, mine likes the skin on courgette, but not too keen on the insides He went absolutely nuts for river shrimp, but it put my Geos into breeding mode and territory became an issue, so i had to stop feeding 'real' meats. I'd like to start again to hopefully recreate the L114s natural habitat, but maybe i need to swap the Geos?

Oh - eventually i'd love to think they'd be some kind of breeding action from this fella - if i could get another would it be better to keep them together from young, or introduce prior to breeding? I'd estimate my L114 is about 5 inches, so still a little fella.

[MatsP]

For breeding, it is PROBABLY better to get young fish, yes. At around 5" they are possibly sexable by normal Ancistrinae signs (thicker pectoral hard ray, wide head, long gill-cover spines and pointy papillae (sex organ) all indicate male - the more of these one fish has, the more likely it is to be a male), but you probably need to have group of them to pick from, or you will struggle to tell the difference - and even then, subdominant males may look like females. When bigger the females (when in good condition) will also be very "fat".

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Mats