My spotted orange seam plecos: Hemiancistrus guahiborum (L106)

[bekateen]

Hi All,

Finally a conclusion to several of my earlier threads:

• Shopping for plecos question,
• What is a good tankmate for Centromochlus perugiae?,
• What can you tell me about Hemiancistrus guahiborum, L106?, and
• Quick answer needed for an imminent pleco purchase: Guahiborum, gold nugget, or Panaqolus?.

At long last, my LFS received six spotted orange seam plecos,

Hemiancistrus guahiborum

. I bought them all ($15 USD each) because I was not able to sex them: Even though they were large enough to be sexable (SL varies from 50 - 60mm), they were skinny and in poor condition.

When I brought them home, I had to vacate the quarantine tank, which until now was still home to my mustard spot plecos,

Panaqolus albomaculatus

, (they spent 3 months in quarantine - not because they needed it, but because they seemed to be doing so well by themselves in the QT tank). The mustard spots are now in a 20 Gal High with my six oil cats,

Centromochlus perugiae

.

I redecorated the QT tank (a standard 10 Gal tank) by removing most of the wood, adding smooth river stones, some bamboo tubes, my home-made multi-cave pottery stone (which was with the oil cats, but they haven't used it in the few days since I got it back from the pottery kiln), and a stronger internal water circulation pump. Also, I raised the heater from 78F to 84F for these guahiborum, as they reportedly like it very warm.

Cheers, Eric
P.S. With this purchase, my "master plan" signature has changed: Guahiborum is removed, and

Leporacanthicus heterodon

goes on the list!

Here are the six new fish, from largest to smallest (60mm-55mm-55mm-55mm-51mm-50mm). As far as I know, they are wild caught, and they appear to be in mediocre shape (skinny, sunken bellies, torn fins, and two have broken pectoral spines!):

[bekateen]

And here are the next three:

[pleconut]

You got them! Good luck and all the best with getting them to good health. And I can see you've now got room on your list for the Golden Vampire Pleco.

[bekateen]

And I can see you've now got room on your list for the Golden Vampire Pleco.

[pleconut]

You probably know this anyway, but maybe some melafix for the fin spines. Even at half dose as priorty is getting them eating. Anyone feel free to correct me here as i'm not a medication expert when it comes to fish.

[bekateen]

Thanks for the advice, Teresa. I'll give it a try. I'm not much of a resource on medications either, but I don't think melafix will hurt them.

Now that they're in the QT tank, here are some photos of the tank with a few of the fish visible inside. You'll notice that the fish are a dark grey base with light gray spots - not the greenish-gray-base with orange-yellow-tan spots I'm used to seeing in the photos. I presume it's their stress coloration; I hope they don't stay just gray-on-gray ... But I'll still love them if they do (like children)!

As a result of this spotted gray-on-gray coloration, they blend in really well with the river stones, some of which also naturally have discoloration spots on them. Did you see the fish in the red circle? It's like, "Where's Waldo?" if Waldo was a spotted orange seam pleco! YIKES!

Cheers, Eric

[smitty]

My orange seem was ery active and even seemed a little hardy. To my surprise. Thanks for posting, good picture.

[pleconut]

The colouration should change i presume once they settle and improve in condition, background and surroundings will have an obvious affect but as it's a QT tank you can think on this for their permanent home. Clog page says they eat bloodworm, and other insect larvae etc that protein should get them back to better health but it may be helpful for someone to chip in here to give more info on a good balance in terms of what else they can eat. @smitty as above you mentioned that you have kept these you will have info on a good diet.

[Jobro]

They look not too bad. I think they will make it

once they get used to your sweet potatoes they will put on some weight for sure. Good luck with them.

[pleconut]

Now you've named one Waldo you will have to now think up names for them all maybe start a thread can- anyone think of names for 5 plecos- if you have trouble choosing names for them all.

[Linus_Cello]

Now you've named one Waldo you will have to now think up names for them all maybe start a thread can- anyone think of names for 5 plecos- if you have trouble choosing names for them all.

Heidi
Mia (M.I.A.)
Gunnar

[bekateen]

Ohhhhhhhh, Noooooooooo! Teresa, look what you've started!!!

[pleconut]

I've only named one of my L397s- 'captain caveman' good name for a pleco i think but rest of them don't have names so we're on an even par i would say.

[Mol_PMB]

Lord Lucan

[pleconut]

It's obvious- Lori

[bekateen]

Now cut that out, you young whipper-snappers! I am not naming my plecos - Never have, never will, and that's final!!! Heck, I haven't even named my kids yet, and the oldest one of those is 24 years old! (just kidding, we did name the children)

For your viewing curiosity, here is a short video of the guahiborum taken within minutes of receiving the fish from the LFS (taken at the same time as the photos above).

Cheers, Eric

New arrivals: Six spotted orange seam plecos (Hemiancistrus guahiborum), L106

[pleconut]

I stopped naming fish when i had way too many to remember the names. But recently cut back on stock to concentrate more on the L397 project so just have 12 plecos and a fry tank I'll soon move on but it would be ridiculous to name the fry. But then there are those we do name...

[bekateen]

UPDATE: This species is a very active species. In their quarantine tank, I'm finding all six fish out and about in the tank, exposed and easily visible, throughout the day with lights on. They will hide if they see me; but if I remain still, they scurry about the tank, skipping from rock to rock and hanging out on the slate in the strongest current in the tank, like hillstream loaches. They are very entertaining. I think I'm going to like these plecos once they are healed up with their bellies full, their fins regrown, and their color restored.

So far, I haven't seen them eat much. I've noticed them chewing on wood and nibbling on omnivore wafers. Besides the omnivore wafers, I've also fed them some NLS Thera A+ pellets, resh raw sweet potato, fresh raw red bell peppers, and cocktail shrimp. I fear the NLS pellets get lost in the crevices of the rocks. I've never caught them eating any of the fresh foods, either. In fact, you'll see in the video attached that the fresh veggies and shrimp tend to fungus very quickly at 30 degrees Celcius: Early in the attached video (filmed this morning), the veggies and shrimp look pretty good. But by the end of the video (filmed this afternoon), you can see the fungal haze waving in the current; this fungal growth occurred in less than 18 hours. I had to throw the food out, seemingly untouched... I can tell that at this high temperature, fresh food won't last very long.

Even though I haven't seen them eating any of the fresh foods, I know they are eating something because I've noticed some poop in the tank (but not a LOT of poop, considering there are six plecos in this tank)... I don't know how much they are eating, or even if all of them have started eating yet - they are still very thin. That said, I believe that they have at least sampled the sweet potato because I've found a small amount of bright orange poop in the tank, in addition to the dark brown poop produced by eating the wood. Tonight I'm trying artificial crab meat, and I added a large mass of stringy algae, pinning it under the wood. Let's see if they eat any of that.

Here is a rather long video (about 6.5 minutes) showing various scenes of the fish moving around the tank. Yes, I am really happy with how brave and active they are. I think I've finally purchased a pleco species that will let me watch it and I'll get to see more than a bunch of tails sticking out of caves.

Oh, and on the issue of caves, I've observed two plecos in my multi-cave pottery stone at the same time (to be clear, the two plecos were occupying DIFFERENT caves, not sharing the same one); I am glad to see the fish using them. But they are so active, they don't spend much time in the caves; when they do hide, they tend to hide between rocks. Otherwise, they seem to enjoy most sitting out in the open, on that slate rock right underneath the outflow nozzle for the AquaClear model 30 powerhead/venturi.

I didn't end up adding any medication (i.e., melafix) to the water; I wanted to see if they will heal on their own. So far, so good - no signs of infection or illness.

Enjoy! Cheers, Eric

New L106 spotted orange seam plecos (Hemiancistrus guahiborum) in quarantine tank

[pleconut]

seem to be settling in. Like mentioned before, it can take a few days for plecos to recognise food as food. But when one does the rest usually follow suit. The temp in my tank causes food to degrade quickly, so some things like courgette needs removing every few hours, so I try not to use them, the sweet potato lasts longer. Now this is being eaten, albeit in small amounts, it's obviously a good thing to persist with.

[pleconut]

Hi Eric earlier in this thread I mentioned the use of melafix for the damaged fins of the L103. Today I noticed a tear in the tail fin of one of my L397s and having not used melafix other than in goldfish years ago I took a look at some of the very mixed reviews in its use, what I refer to here is there were reports of fish deaths during use of melafix, although i question if the use of it in some of the cases of these deaths, whether the use of melafix was appropriate, in that maybe the fish had problems beyond what it would cure, and a case of keepers thinking it would fix a problem that actually required antibiotic treatment, further to this I checked it's use in plecos, again with good and bad reports. So i would recommend this, rather, that you keep the tank as clean as you can, which i know anyway, you probably do, and should any sign of infection occur, I would rather you not act on my advice only. I have done a forum search here if melafix is harmful to plecos and hasn't come back with any suggestion it is. Melafix can cause a oily film on the water surface inhibiting oxygen exchange. Therefore requiring extra aeration during its use. Just wanted to make you aware of my findings so you can make an informed decision should the need arise.

[bekateen]

Thank you Teresa for alerting me to your concern. As I mentioned above, I didn't end up using the Melafix. Although there has been no time for the new plecos' pectoral spines to regrow, I can say that the bloody spine no longer looks bloody, and all of the fish are active with no signs of disease (other than still the torn fins and sunken bellies); I think everything will be okay once they have time to settle in and eat lots of good foods. I have used Melafix on my corys before, without problem, but I don't think I've ever used it on any of my plecos, so I can't speak from experience there.

Regarding the torn fin on your L397, if I was you, I wouldn't worry much about it. My adult clown plecos and my mustard spot plecos get into little scrapes with each other all the time, and occasionally I find one or two fish (usually females among the clowns) with torn fins or scratched bodies. I don't do anything special to treat them, and over time they heal without incident. So unless you see signs of infection or the tears getting worse, I'd advise you to leave them alone and let their own bodies heal themselves.

Cheers, Eric

P.S., Teresa, please take the following advice with a smile and a spirit of care and appreciation.... Regarding your last post, I have one word for you: Punctuation.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

I get it. I am trying to work on it.

[catfishchaos]

When I got my

Amaralia hypsiura

One was missing 100% of the pectoral membrane only having the spine left, it has since completely healed and looks completely normal.

Great to see you cross another off your list Eric and even better to see that they are doing rather well (they look happy in the videos I've watched ;) ).

Will you by any chance be going for a spawning attempt down the road?

[bekateen]

Thanks. Yes, so far they are looking good (maybe better?) with each passing day. What is surprising me most is that nearly all the poop I'm seeing is very dark brown, so I'm thinking that in spite of all the other foods I'm offering, wood is still the main part of their diet. They seem to only sample the sweet potato, Brussels sprouts, bell pepper, and fake crab meat I'm providing.

I do hope they spawn later, although at this time, I don't know if I have both sexes.

With my other species, I don't do much out of the ordinary to condition them other than just do my routine maintenance: I try to provide good food, my water changes are always big (60-75% each time), and I give them lots of caves and hiding places. Perhaps the only manipulations I attempt are (A) covering their tanks for privacy (but this is more about reducing their stress, not triggering spawning) and (B) occasionally using distilled water for partial water changes.

That said, the one scientific paper about the natural reproductive cycle of guahiborum concluded that they spawn year-round and don't have a specific trigger like a change in temperature or a drop in water hardness. If so, then I just need to keep them healthy and make them feel "at home."

Fingers crossed for luck!

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

UPDATE: After 8 weeks of care in my quarantine tank (and this may become their permanent home for the foreseeable future), I thought I'd do a reshoot of pictures to show you how the fish have improved. I still can't sex them and I haven't seen any of them show interest in each other sexually. But occasionally I do find one or two in different caves, although always alone and always for only a few hours. Mostly they stay on or under rocks, and now they are a lot more shy if I move nearby than they were that first night I brought them home.

In the aquarium, they still have a charcoal gray color as an overall color, very nice against the gray stones. But when photographed in air, they have a slight yellow-green color to the body's stress coloration (still no sign of the deep green shown in the first photo of the

Hemiancistrus guahiborum

CLOG page, but I'm hoping!). The orange seams on the dorsal and caudal fins have grown in very nicely, and you can even see small hints of the orange seam on the pectoral and pelvic fin tips - pretty cool.

Here's two photos of the fish number 4 from page 1 of this thread (I also reposted the original photo for easy comparison). This is the fish that had a broken and bleeding pectoral spine when purchased; the spine has healed nicely, as you can see. At the time of purchase, its other pectoral spine was deformed, and that still persists. I don't expect it to change. The fish has grown from 55mm to about 58mm SL in two months, but as is true for all of my guahiborum, this fish doesn't show any widening of the hips that might be a sign of a female. The scientific paper I read about their natural reproduction made no mention of sexual dimorphism, other than overall average size, so I may just have to wait for eggs to know what/who I have.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

They seem to be doing very well, a big improvement, you must be very pleased with the progress of them.

[bekateen]

Yeah, I am pleased, although also impatient for more development and progress.

One thing that is evident in the "before" (original) and "after" dorsal view pictures is how much the body has filled out (although again, not enough to clearly indicate male vs. female): If you look at the "before" dorsal view, you can clearly see that the body indents just anterior to the pelvic fins, reflecting the poor nutritional status of the fish. In the "after" dorsal view, the body is nicely convex, filling outward and showing that the fish has put on body mass.

The fins are still a little tattered and torn, but this is not residual from the time of arrival. This is because (1) the fish occasionally fight with each other, and also because (2) when they are startled by me or by my house cat (who likes to sit on top of this aquarium), the fish rush to hide among the rocks, and often they will bang into rocks or the ceramic cave structure in the tank, or the HOB filter intake, and those events might lead to some damage. More than likely, the damage is mainly due to the occasional fighting. But as far as I can tell, it's no big concern at this time.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

As for the cat, as in not catfish, it may just be the temperature of the tank, that makes it a spot he/she wants to rest, jump ect upon, a warmer more comfortable spot may help, that's if it's not the actual fish that it's interested in as they can be! I did notice the filling out, could just be down to good feeding, but a possibility it may be an early sex indication, although you said you can't sex them, it may track their development. You may look back on the progress and realise it was related to the sex. So it might be worth getting a dorsal view shot of each one, if you haven't already done, but i would think you again photographed them all! You may get to see, if this is about the same degree of filling out for them all, then most likely it's down to good feeding, or if there's any significant difference that isn't closely equal to each of them, then might be very early indications of the sex of them.

[Mol_PMB]

I was very tempted by a fish being sold as an L122 today (though I think it was actually an L106). If only I had space for more plecos!

[bekateen]

Although I've read the description of L122, I'm not sure I would be able to tell the difference between it and guahiborum if I saw them both in a fish store.