Please sex my L134

powerfulpumpkins · Post by **powerfulpumpkins** » 15 Dec 2011, 23:12

Hello there,
I would be most greatful if someone could sex my L134 for me please.
I attach a picture
Many thanks

matti2uude · Post by **matti2uude** » 15 Dec 2011, 23:37

It looks like a very gravid female to me.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

powerfulpumpkins · Post by **powerfulpumpkins** » 16 Dec 2011, 19:37

Thanks Matti2uude for your suggestion. Are there any other takers for this sexing ? I wondered if it was a female but its never got down to anything with the male I have.

Suckermouth · Post by **Suckermouth** » 16 Dec 2011, 20:05

Looks like a female to me too.

powerfulpumpkins · Post by **powerfulpumpkins** » 27 Dec 2011, 21:54

So two members have said they think the fish is a female - I know atleast one of my fish is a male so I wonder why there has never been any breeding attempts ?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 27 Dec 2011, 22:28

It's almost always difficult to say why a certain group of fish are breeding or not breeding (or why a group stops breeding when for example they go to a new owner, or why someone will be given the most subborn fish that can't be bred, and immadiately they spawn, etc).

Larry (Apistomaster) says his fish only breed certain times of the year. I don't know if this is always they case.

What have you done in an attempt to breed them? And have you "left them alone" for some time? I find that quite a lot of people (including myself) often try to change too many things, and it's the fish that I don't "try" to breed that end up spawning - like the Ancistrus claro I put in a tank to grow out, and when I went to catch them a while back, I found that there were fry in the tank!

--
Mats

ducky · Post by **ducky** » 28 Dec 2011, 12:34

i keep a group of 9 for over 3 years with no luck of breeding them. im sure i have both sexes and the females are very gravid.

havent done anything in order to get them breed just daily feeding at night and weekly water change.

tank size 75x50x40cm with thin sand and driftwoods with rectangular and round caves.

water parameter is not very ideal pH 7.0-7.5, temp 27-30c, TDS ~500.

i have recently installed RO system and the output parameter seem better at pH 6.0 and TDS 70.

will slowly add RO during water change to avoid shock.

powerfulpumpkins · Post by **powerfulpumpkins** » 29 Dec 2011, 13:26

Hi MatsP thanks for your reply, Currently the tank is home to 4 L134's and 3 L46's along with a lone discus. I am just about to move and the discus will go into another tank leaving the plecs. Its the same tank that my zebras which I have covered in another recent thread are living in and a few months ago I got one lone zebra baby without even realising anything was happening. I have no idea what happened to make the zebras spawn, it would appear it didnt make the L134's spawn at the same time. This makes me wonder for a start will different plecs spawn when living in the same tank or does for example my zebra male become the dominant fish putting the others off from spawning? When I have moved I will give more time to a breeding attempt with the fish. For now I have given them periods of low water changes and then periods of high water changes to see if that triggers them. I keep wondering if there is a certain pattern to how you feed them for example do you feed such fish more in the period of low water changes or less. There appears to be an art to all of this !

Nabobmob1 · Post by **Nabobmob1** » 30 Dec 2011, 03:30

I have a large group of wild L134 and was trying everything by the book to get them to spawn.

This summer I thought I'd try something different and left my house sitter instructions to feed sparingly only once while I was gone. 10 days later I returned and before I could even begin waterchanges I lost power for 4 days. Being a "Moron" as some would put it having 60 tanks, had no backup system. I drained tanks 50 percent and would SPLASH an inch into each tank every few hours until full, drain and repeat. Two days after power returned I had two males on eggs.

Since then I have had 6 spawns with little to no effort, seems the first is the hardest.

BTW I'm with the rest: Female

900801 · Post by **900801** » 30 Dec 2011, 04:12

It seems female. L134 is difficult to get them to spawn. Even hypan or pesuda having you can have pairs or colony but it still boils down to whether the fish wants to breed or not. Environment, water and breeding medium plays a part in breeding them. Most often the trick is to not bother about them but continue the regular feeding and wc.

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » 30 Dec 2011, 06:06

I agree, female.

Jeremy

Rabbit · Post by **Rabbit** » 30 Dec 2011, 06:29

900801 wrote:Most often the trick is to not bother about them but continue the regular feeding and wc.

In other word's patience! Something i personally struggle with....

powerfulpumpkins · Post by **powerfulpumpkins** » 30 Dec 2011, 11:55

Thanks for everyones continued replies. When I move the fish - sometime in the next month I guess I must get pictures of all 4 L134's - I clearly have a male - he is covered in spines at times its the other lurkers I am not sure about but the general view is this particular fish is a female. Any takers on if having a male zebra plec in the tank is impacting on the L134's spawning ? could he be seen as the alpha fish even though he is a different type ?