ID help, please. What did I buy - L201, contradens, or other?

[nabulus]

Eric, you need more tanks!

[bekateen]

Eric, you need more tanks!

Ha! Ke, you're absolutely right.

Currently, I have about 37

L201

fry in the fry basket. In another tank I have an unknown number of

Hypancistrus debilittera

fry which are already pretty old (I can't see yolk on them), and at the same time, this dad (with kids in his cave) has been trapping a female for three straight days nonstop. Between dad's and mom's bodies, I can't get the fry out of their cave! And that doesn't count the 30+

Panaqolus maccus

F2 fry I have in the tank with my

Ancistrus sp`rio_ucayali`

.

I did just set up a new tank last week when I picked up the H. zebra. But it's just a temporary 10 gal tank until I can figure out where to put them permanently.

I need to get rid of some fish. Maybe March 3rd?

Cheers, Eric

[Linus_Cello]

I need to get rid of some fish. Maybe March 3rd?

Why? BFD?

[bekateen]

Why? BFD?

BFD = Birmingham Fire Department?

No, seriously, March 3rd is my next fish club meeting. And to get to the fish club, I also drive in the general direction of @nabulus.

Cheers, Eric

[Linus_Cello]

Thought you may be flying over for
http://thebigfishdeal.com

[bekateen]

Ah, I did not see that coming (when I grew up, BFD was a way of cussing).

Sorry, but no I can't make it. That would be fun but it conflicts with my own club meeting, and I'm the program coordinator so I need to make it more often than not.

I hope the BFD is a whopper!

Cheers, Eric

[b.reder]

Big F...Deal is a way of cussing. Did I learn it on the East Coast or West Coast? -Barry

[bekateen]

Almost exactly two years since date of purchase, here are update photos of two of my original fish:

One male (which spawned recently) and one of the "bulky" females which has never spawned. It's this female that some of you suspect is H. contradens instead of L201.

Current sizes:
Female: ~64mm SL
Male: ~67mm SL

They've grown only 1 cm or less in two years! I did not expect that, wow!

[bekateen]

18 days post hatching. This is one who got loose into the parents' tank before I could pull the fry from dad's cave and put in a basket.

[bekateen]

Today I came home to a third L201 spawn. That's 3 spawns (two dads, one mom) in 32 days:

1. February 2
2. February 12
3. March 6

This egg laying occurred on the third day of trapping. Just minutes before the female laid her eggs and left the cave, I observed the male was facing OUT of the cave! That's right - he had reversed his position, with his tail pointing in toward the female. Is this to help fertilize the eggs?

I guess once they start, they keep going.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Fry are growing well, but slowly. A third clutch of eggs hatched today. Dad let one wriggler out of his cave, but I hope he does better with the remainder.

Here's a video of the two older clutches of fry. The oldest fry are now one month old.

Cheers, Eric

Hypancistrus sp. L201 big spot fry, 1 month old and 3 weeks old

[Jobro]

Fry are growing well, but slowly.

And here I thought, that the Ventuari hypans grow pretty fast compared to some other ;)

[bekateen]

And here I thought, that the Ventuari hypans grow pretty fast compared to some other ;)

My L201 big spots are only 15mm at 1 month age. That's about the same size as is reported in the only other L201 spawning report (BLOG) with growth data that is on file (here).

By contrast, my

L397

are 21mm SL by one month, and even my

Panaqolus maccus

are 17mm SL -they're bigger thant the L201!

As my mom used to say, "Patience is a virtue."

Cheers, Eric

[Jobro]

Yeah, Hypans grow slowly compared to others. But even among the hypans, some grow even slower L46, L174, L260, L262... really really slow. my L260 are 3.5cm SL after 6 Months now...

[bekateen]

3.5 cm in 6 months? That seems fast.

[Jobro]

some of m H. Contradens or H. Inspector can do 5cm SL in that time

[bekateen]

Five weeks old

[Fundulopanchax76]

As we talk about growth, some of my L 340 are 7 cm TL in age of 1 year, which is well, compared with other hypans.

[bekateen]

Wow!

[bekateen]

Oldest fry are now 7 weeks old. As they get bigger, they also grow faster. They're starting to fill out their bodies.

Cheers, Eric

Direct link to YouTube video: Hypancistrus sp. L201 big spot fry 7 weeks, 6 weeks, and 2 weeks old

[bekateen]

I set up a small photo tank to take pics and video of the fry, now about 2 months old. There are also pics of the oldest Hypancistrus debilittera fry, about the same age as the oldest L201 big spots.

Enjoy.

Cheers, Eric

Hypancistrus debilittera and H. sp. L201 big spot fry 2 months old

[bekateen]

Today I came home to a third L201 spawn. That's 3 spawns (two dads, one mom) in 32 days:

1. February 2
2. February 12
3. March 6

Yesterday, 3 April, I found their fourth spawn, same female, I think with first male (if so, this is his third spawn). Fourth spawn in 60 days:

1. 02 February
2. 12 February (10 day interval)
3. 06 March (22 day interval)
4. 03 April (28 day interval)

[bekateen]

Woo-hoo! Tonight, once again, both males are simultaneously trapping females. This comes after four other spawns in June and July (all with the male in the orange cave).

[bekateen]

Male #2 (lower picture in last post) is now guarding eggs. Male #1 (upper picture in last post) has broken up without spawning. But male #1 is the more frequent spawner of the two males, and it's his habit to trap, separate, and trap again before finally spawning. So I think he's still in the running.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

FINALLY! While the 17 fry of male #2 continue to grow, male #1 and his female mate got to it last night and produced some eggs. Only 16 days after he first started trapping her (with about 3 break-ups along the way during that time)!!! #BetterLateThanNever

[bekateen]

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but today I watched two males sparring for a cave. The losing male backed out of the cave quite angry, and it showed. I caught a good view of him with dorsal fin flared.

As far as their original sale name (

L201

big spot), I no longer have the original parents, but I have a still-breeding colony of F1s and I think a few F2s mixed together. In these subsequent generations, I've noticed the spots are smaller than in the original parents, which really begs the question of whether there is a big spot line in the wild, or if we're just arbitrarily sorting wild fish into bigger and smaller spots (just as we single out

L471

from L201 from

Hypancistrus contradens

. I know we fish people are convinced they're different (species or just subspecies or populations), but biologists say they are genetically indistinguishable at the species level.

Cheers,
Eric