Ancistrus dolichopterus

[catfishchaos]

With the loss of my

Peckoltia compta

colony (http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =4&t=42728) Im going to completely clear out the tank and clean everything thoroughly, re-scape and replant the entire tank and while I'm in the process of doing this I would like to think about new tenants.

Ancistrus dolichopterus

is something available and something I also find interesting. I'm planning on using the same caves as I did for

Peckoltia compta

(after boiling them of course) and the wood will be re-used (same treatment) however the substrate will be changed from Seachem Onyx sand as it buffers my tank up to 7.5 when my tap is 5. I'll most likely end up making a few planted areas but the rest will be ADA sand of some sort.

Looks like I have everything all figured out eh? except for the following of course

Tank mates: This a breeding setup so I will only be keeping two species. The

Ancistrus dolichopterus

and a school of some form of characin to give them a relatively realistic dither. I would prefer to skip the neon and cardinals, for whatever reason they have very little appeal to me. Im thinking either black neons or glowlight tetras but if you guys wanna throw some more names at me that enjoy black water or vote for the current ones that would be great.

Quantity: How many adult

Ancistrus dolichopterus

would you recommend for a 55 gallon? Dimensions are (LxWxH) 48x13x20. Personally I'm thinking 7 or so.

Ratio: How many boys and how many girls out of the amount you think is appropriate for the tank size. I was think 3 males and 4 females but open to suggestions.

Substrate: More a question about colour (light or dark) than anything else but unless told otherwise I will probably go with a fine grain.

Let me know what you guys think

Regards
James

[Jobro]

Glowlight tetras should look fine in a low light setup. They look better in warmer, yellowish dim light. In bright, white light, they seem to lose their glow (at least that's the case for my ones). Adding some peat/turf/bog to get amber water is great as well.

Number of adult inmates is hard to tell. I have 6 youngsters (~8cm SL) in a 105gallon tank, with quite some more young plecos of other species. They don't really like each other and will chase any other L183 away. Though adults seem to be way different. They stay in their caves all day, no action to be seen there. No idea what happens during night. But all the breeding tanks for Ancistrus, that I have seen yet, had quite a few adults very close to each other in their caves. You should be fine with 3M/4F, I think. But let's hear others point of view.

Pick whatever substrate you like.

If you buy youngsters, make sure to check out the parents. Adult L183 should have the white rings on their fins. If they lack white, dont buy them. It's either not a good strain or maybe even L181s sold as L183.

[catfishchaos]

Thanks Jobro!

The LEDs on my tank don't make a very yellow light but once that light hits the coffee I'll be keeping them in I'm sure they will look great. Also good to know substrate colour isn't important to them (unfortunately that means i have to make a decision ).


These are wild caught individuals but for good measure here is one of the sellers photos of them.

[Oskartxo]

Small have a white border, but as they grow they will lose. I have wild specimens and some have lost edging and points, I put a picture of one he has left some edging but little.

[pleconut]

Glowlights are good also rummynoses look good but both are sensitive when it comes to acclimating but there are some really nice looking rarer tetras ie kitty tetra-hyphessobrycon heliacus- the coffee bean tetra-hyphessobrycon takesei -and the Loreto tetra- hyphessobrycon loretoensis -cochus blue tetra -boehlkea fredcochui- at all around the same size you could try and possibly even try spawning them as well.

[Linus_Cello]

Why not hatchet fish? Or some small rasbora or danio?
Paul Loiselle calls tetras "mini-pirhannas" that like to eat eggs and fry. Maybe you'll have a higher survival rate with other dithers?

[bekateen]

Hatchet fish are among my favorite fish. It's like they are a mirror to the catfish - while the catfish skim across the bottom of the tank, the hatchets skim across the top. And unlike the cats, the hatchets don't hide all day long!

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

I did have some small tetras with my L397s glowlights lemons and black neons but it became clear to me it wouldn't work out in terms of the plecos breeding. But having said this I'm still thinking of trying the ones mentioned above maybe also hatchet fish with a group of plecos well sheltered below that are more likely to be able to hold their own than L397s. Otocinclus are good also.