My spotted orange seam plecos: Hemiancistrus guahiborum (L106)

[stuby]

I measured a couple and took pictures...... smallest and largest ones I seen. Smallest one is 4 3/4" TL and largest one 6 1/4" TL.

[bekateen]

Very nice! That's a good looking male! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Eric

[pan]

Helpfull topic Eric! I keep a male Hemiancistrus guahiborum for more than 6 years, and is kind of forggoten by me. I intend to pay more attention at this species and I' m planning to get a group of them. Are there any news from your tank? Any breeding attempts?

Greetings, Chris

[bekateen]

Good morning, Chris,

No new news regarding breeding. I'm still trying to get them to breed, but no sign yet.

Most interesting, all but one have turned yellow, almost white, in their tank. This started several months ago. I wondered if it is a sign of stress and maybe it is, but I've had no deaths after all this time so if it is pathological, it is a slow or mild effect.

I first saw it in the same species at the local fish store where i bought mine. However, this group of fish is a newer arrival than mine, so they didn't arrive in the same importation.

I'll try to get pictures of my fish. They are quite spectacular, almost ghost like.

Now I'm wondering if it might be caused by a mineral deficiency, so next week I'm going to experiment by adding pond clay that is used to enhance color in koi.

Cheers, Eric

[pan]

Hi Eric,
I also had seen the change of colour you describe at my L106, a couple of years ago. If i can remember correct, it was after a change of tanks, so i gave him time to acclimatize. The colours came back to usual after a few days.
I believe the fish of yours that got pale, are from ruinemans. In Greece is probably the importer with the best quality, although a bit pricey. So i believe and wish there are no problems with yours too. Looking forward your updates.
Greetings, Chris.

[stuby]

I haven't seen this in my L106's..... but I have seen it in other plecs. Do you have light colored substrate in the tank Eric? The only time I have seen this in my plecs is when have white or light colored sand/gravel..

Chuck

[bekateen]

Substrate is a typical light sand (It's conventional pool filter stand). So yes, in my tanks that might be a factor. But at the LFS where the fish also went pale, his tank had medium shade blue-painted gravel.
https://youtu.be/hNXz7lKRQ0A

[stuby]

I believe it is a way to camouflage themselves to their surroundings..... I haven't seen any plec do this when they have dark substrate or no substrate (BB) at all. I don't have many tanks with dark substrate but I have noticed for example L76 are lighter in a tank with white sand than they are in a BB tank as well..... not the yellow/white color like I have seen in other plecs but very light compared to the others I have in the BB tank. I don't believe they are stressed as they come out when they know I am right there to eat or just to play....

Take care,
Chuck

[bekateen]

Not the best pictures, but here are three of my own fish (not fish at LFS) today.

Cheers, Eric

[pan]

Wow! I 've never seen something like that before! It 's turning to yellow, like chubby pleco. Pretty amazing!

[bekateen]

I'm starting an experiment today - I'm adding 2.5ml dry Montmorillonite clay to the 37 gallon

Hemiancistrus guahiborum

aquarium, once per week, to see if it helps restore color.

If (after a few weeks) it hasn't killed the fish, and whether or not it helps fish color, I'll also try it in my

Panaqolus claustellifer

&

Baryancistrus beggini

tank to see if it stimulates spawning.

[pan]

Interesting material Eric! Won't it effect the water hardness?
Cheers, Chris

[bekateen]

Hi Chris,

Yes I imagine so. But the tank is filled already with 50% distilled water, so hopefully hardness doesn't go too high.

Also, the clay settles out of the water column very quickly, so I imagine it enters solution slowly and only partially.

As far as dosing is concerned, I'm adding it at 2/3 strength relative to the label recommendation.

Cheers, Eric

[pan]

Thanks Eric. Looking forward the results of your experiment.
Greetings, Chris

[bekateen]

One of my largest Hemiancistrus guahiborum. Several of mine have been yellow like this for a few years. Others have normal coloration. All were purchased with normal coloration.

Weird.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

They're still leucistic.

[MarcW]

Thanks for the update Eric, these have been a fish I have wanted to keep for a while, just need a convention or two to move on some fry/fish to make the room!

[bekateen]

Horrible update: After nearly seven years, I lost my entire group of

Hemiancistrus guahiborum

over the weekend. I was away for three days and came back to a tank of dead fish. I lost all eight H. guahiborum, plus my last

Centromochlus orca

.

I've had some of these H. guahiborum longer than any other species I've kept. Three of the individuals were 12+ cm SL. Oh, it'll take a while to build up a group like this again.

Oddly, I have a small number of

Panaqolus sp(L397)

and

Spinipterus moijiri

in this tank too, and none of them appear to have died.

Regards,
Eric

[OregonOutdoorsChris]

I'm sorry for your loss. You don't expect something like that to happen over just a 3 day weekend. Do you have an idea of the cause?

[bekateen]

I'm sorry for your loss. You don't expect something like that to happen over just a 3 day weekend. Do you have an idea of the cause?

Thanks. You're right. I didn't expect it.

As to causation, I suspect a stoppage of sufficient water flow/aeration. This tank is about 40 gal. It has a Matten driven by two separate Fluval Q2 air pumps, and additionally has an Aquaclear 75 powerhead and a 500 GPH pond pump running inside. Apparently, both air pumps weakened maybe gradually over months to a point where their air output was present but trivial; both pumps were the same age, so it's not improbable that they have about the same life span. This morning, they were still pumping water out of the Matten , but not at a rate fast enough to pull mulm up into the filter from the tank. So I suspect that residual mulm swirled in the water under the current of the two power heads/pumps and eventually clogged one entirely and the other partially.

I left town Saturday and water was flowing well. I returned Tuesday morning to find only a slight ripple of water across the water surface. Dang. At the same time, I think all the L397 in there (there is a group of 3-5) are still alive. I've seen 3 at once, and there may be others hiding.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

This photo is from the morning after I removed all the dead plecos and orcas, and did a deep clean of the tank: The tank and water are now pretty clear. Thankfully, I see all five of the

L397

, and two of the

Spinipterus moijiri

. I was hoping for one more S. moijiri; maybe it's in the tank somewhere, but I didn't see the third, neither dead nor alive.

[MarcW]

Sorry to hear this Eric. I hope the other woodcat is still hiding in there somewhere.

I feel that a lot of losses involving groups of fish may have been caused by similar gradual reduction in filter/pump performance. It has reminded me that a couple of my mattenfilters have become sluggish and I should probably get them rinsed out soon.