L137 care requirements?

[PaperDoves]

I'm considering getting an L137 blue eye red fin bruno. I'm having trouble finding information about it though. Does it eat primarily wood? Is this a species that is usually more on the shy end of things, or is it a fish that would generally be more active in the tank? Does it do well in captivity? Does it grow quickly? This would be a wild-caught specimen.

I had been thinking of getting an L018, L177 or especially L047 but I came across several statements that these are all very difficult to keep successfully, that they're difficult to feed properly and usually end up dying after a few months. I don't want to get a fish that I'm going to end up starving, so I have decided against any of those.

Another that I'm considering is L201 inspector.

[bekateen]

Did you search the forum using it's species name,

Hypostomus soniae

?

Cheers, Eric

[smitty]

I currently have one and I can tell you he loves Zucchini, cucumber along with algae wafers and prawns. He is about 7 inches.

[PlecosAndLoaches]

Love this fish. I have one that I picked up from Freshwater Exotics in Oct 2014 @ ~4" TL. He/she has since almost doubled in size to 8" now. I anticipate it will top out at around 9-10". Built like a bulldozer but not aggressive with other fish in the tank (smaller L14, L18, L47, L128, L142, L177, L200, L239, L305, etc.) I have high turnover in my tanks, constant drip supply of freshwater (100% water change every ~3-4 days) and that's the main reason it's grown as fast as it has, IMHO and based on discussions with Jamie at Freshwater Exotics. I feed a varied diet of Hikari cichlid gold pellets, algae wafers, Repashy gels, New Life Spectrum Thera A and fresh zucchini with occasional frozen bloodworms. I've heard that these fish are a good indicator of water parameters. My water is a constant 7.6 pH and temp is 78F and subsequently the color on this fish is constant, too...see below.

With regard to the other species you're considering, I had limited success early on with smaller baryancistrus (lost a mango & a couple goldies) but since I converted to the constant drip/sump method for filtration & water changes, I've had very good luck keeping everyone alive & healthy. Good luck making a decision. If you've got the tank space for a 8-10" fish and are leery of the more fragile baryancistrus species, I'd recommend getting a L137.

[PaperDoves]

Thank you. I have a 4x2x2 120, do you think that that will be sufficient for L137? I really love L47, it's one of those that I fell in love with at first sight, but I am not at all confident that I can keep it feeding happily, based on having read so many stories of failure with it. L137 is another one in the same category for me, fish that I felt drawn to immediately. I do a lot of water changes compared to most people that I talk to, about 40% every 3 days and I test every other day (my parameters stay stable at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <5 nitrate) but I don't have plans to convert over to a system like yours, nor to upgrade to a larger tank in the forseeable future.

I'm glad to hear that it's not aggressive with your other fish. If I were to get one, it would be in a tank with some bristlenoses, L183, L264 and L200.