L260 breeding help

[wwicks]

I have a single male l260 and I am considering buying more to try and breed them. I have a spare 29 gallon (30inch by 12inch foot print) and I was wondering if this was big enough to have a small group? Also what is the ratio of males to females that would work best in a 29 gallon? Any other information you have would be appreciated.

[.Plecomania.]

I'm interested in this too. I recently got 6 L260s (juveniles) to grow out and eventually breed.

if you can ID the males vs females then i imagine one male per two females is good because two males will fight.
you can prob get away with 4-5 of L260 in that tank but just to be safe I'd do 3 or 4. a male and two females will leave plenty of room to keep water quality higher. and demand for O2 down.
they need warm water so 82F or slightly higher is good, lots of aeration so overfilter it for good flow and surface agitation.
primarily carnivorous so meaty foods are good like earthworms sticks and catfish pellets. you can even feed bloodworms and brine shrimp once every couple of weeks but don't over do it.
they can eat greens too but that should not be the primary source of their diet.

I'm just waiting for mine to grow up . they are at 1.75" maybe right now.

Does your male come out during the day at all? because i only see mine at night and in the shadows during the day. how long have you had him?

[wwicks]

Mine hides all day to, but at night he isn't skittish, if I shine a flash light on him he just sits there and ignores me. I have had him for a month or two now. He may become more active though once he gets his own tank as he is in a planted community with relatively bright lights. Also I purchased mine as an adult so he is probably close to being done growing

[.Plecomania.]

how big is he?
also don't shine light on them, their eyes are very light sensitive, and i have read that they will not breed if you keep shining lights when the male is caving. i used to shine mine with a flashlight just to make sure they were alive and there. but i don't do that anymore and they have started to be more bold around feeding time. still restricted to shadows though.
flashlight will stress this fish.

my recommendation for once you setup your L260 tank - keep the hiding places pointed toward the viewer so that the fish can hide but at the same time you can see them if you look close. so caves should be pointing with the opening towards the front of the tank, but in the shadows to the fish feel safe. same for crevices of slate and rocks - point the openings in such a way that you can see the pleco if it's wedged in there.
dimly lit is important to keep stress to a minimum.

see how you can see the fish even if they were to hide? that is a good layout to display your plecos.

[wwicks]

I don't know exactly how large he is, but he is around 3.5inches. Also thanks for the other info.

[.Plecomania.]

yeah that's almost full grow for in captivity. i hear they grow to 4.5" and more in the wild though!