Easy breeding plecos

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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Högö
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Easy breeding plecos

Post by Högö »

Hi I'm new here and i don't know where to put this message :oops: ? I'm trying to find some easy plecos to breed. I'm planing to buy a 700l tank and place there some easy breeding plecos. I would like to buy L-46 but it's too expencive in Finland :cry: . Here is some plecos i like.

L-102
L-260
L-134
L-66
L-183

Can you tell your own experiencies of those plecos.
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Post by Janne »

Of this five you mention I think the L-134 and L-183 are the most difficult of them, they need softer and sometimes a lower pH then the other, L-260 and L-66 are not so difficult to breed but not together in the same tank...there are a chance that they will crossbreed with each other.
I have not tryed L-102 yet so I dont know much about them more then they come from Rio negro. They will breed in your 700 L tank if you give them some heavy current and suited caves to breed in but you must keep the water in a very good quality with lots of water changes. For my self I breed them in smaller tanks between 120-200 L depending of wich species I intend to spawn, but I have some bigger tank for other larger species.

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Post by Högö »

Thx. I think i will try to breed L-66. I have a smaller tank (180 L), but i think i will try to breed LDA-1 there (has enyone breed them?). Which of thouse five plecos would breed there?

Tack till Janne :D .
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Post by Barbie »

I'm currently breeding L260 in a 40 liter tank. It's not the ideal set up, and I do more water changes than one would normally be expected to, but it's definitely working. The male has a female in visiting for the third time already this year. If they will be the only inhabitants, I would think any of the plecos listed would work in a tank that size. My L183 have an 80 liter tank that they are successfully spawning in. As long as you're willing to work to keep the water paramters in good condition, I'm sure you'll have good luck with them.

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Post by Högö »

Ok how many L-230 or L-102 would fitt in to the 180 l tank? I would like to breed a L-124, but nobody has done it (right?).
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Post by Janne »

LDA-01/L-169 are not as easy to breed like the others you mention in your first post, mine spawn last year and the male kick the eggs out from the cave...only one fry survived and I'm still waiting for the next attempt but that is close now.

Not a good pic but I hope you can see him...
Image

L-124 that you mention maybe not are so difficult with the right treatment, I have succeded with L-147 that are very close related for only some weeks ago and I will try L-75 next winter...I have to buy a female first (have four males).

Fry only a day old.
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A pair of L-102 or one male with two females increase your chances to succed with breeding, they get bigger then many other species in this family so if you have more males they will disturb each other when fighting of the best territory...thats my experience with larger Hypancistrus.
L-230 I dont know if I have...I have a Peckoltia from Peru but dont know wich one...there are several that are very similar I have not succed with any spawning of them.

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Post by pleco_breeder »

Hello,

I have spawned all the fish on your list except L134. I'm still looking for a group of them to add to my system. L102 and L183 are the more difficult listed, and L102 is slightly more difficult because of their adult size. If you are willing, or capable of maintaining the lower pH and hardness values, none of the fish will be excessively challenging if the available info for the species is followed. If you decide on a particular species to work, I'm more than willing to offer more specific info as to general care and triggering a spawn.

BTW Janne, It has been my experience that Panaque and Peckoltia both benefit from an excessively extended dry season. Just my experience, and I welcome any feedback on the issue.

Larry Vires
Impossible only means that somebody hasn't done it correctly yet.
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Post by Högö »

Yes i think i'll get some L-102 to the 700l tank and L-66 in the smaller one. In our town the waters hardness is about 3 and the Ph in my tank 6.5 (is it good?). Today the local Petstore owner sead that they have a old (used) 750l for sale. It was whery long (220 cm) and broad, but not so high. It would cost some 450â?¬ whit all the filters lamps and so on. Shoud i buy it or is it to dangerus if it has a leak or something (the tank is 5 years old).
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Post by Janne »

Your water seems to be perfect for many kind of species for breeding attempts, and yes you should buy the 750 L tank...its sheap and 5 years is not old for a tank. That it's not so high is perfect, much better with a big water surface area for oxygen supply.

Larry,
I have the same experience as you with both Panaque and Peckoltia species...they always start breeding in the late autum after our summer and I dont mean that is their natural seasons...just the way I caring for them. Under the summer they dont have the same attention from me and I let the water be both harder and let the pH increase and natural the temp. is higher under our summer...cant keep it low :) So when the autum comes late in oktober I start changing the hardness and let the pH drop a bit and that takes no longer then 3-4 weeks before the Peckoltia start to spawn but the Panaque will take longer, I cant say that this works for everyone of these families because species from Peru or Colombia always breed in late spring or beginning of the summer in my tanks. Hypancistrus species just seems to breed all year around if they have the right habitat in the tank wich is fast current and high water quality. I have a pair of L-239 and they did a breeding attempt last year in july and after that not showing any more interest but now again they start to be very active again and the female are pregnant so I hope for success with these in some weeks. I also have some L-204 that are showing their breedings behaviour right now and I keept 1 male with 2 females there both are pregnant for some weeks but nothing has happend so far so today I moved one of the females because they are fighting between each other about the male and that disturb them I think...so we will see what happens following days/weeks if I have right about them.
That I mean is that seems to depend on both origin and what family they belongs to when the natural breeding season start or maybe it's how I care for them :wink:

So what do you say, Do you share my experience that it seems that all catfish dont breed in the same time even that they are from the same origin?

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Post by pleco_breeder »

Janne,

It has been my experience that I can plan spawns from these 2 genera, but only if I plan months in advance. I've kept Panaque maccus, Panaque sp. L002, and Peckoltia vitatta spawning year round. However, it took a lot of attention to detail to do it. Normally, I start dry seasons on juveniles once I've had them for about 6 months. Experience has taught me that most of the small fish shipped in for the hobby are no less than 3 months old. I continue that first dry season for a full 3 months, pushing as much food into them as I can get them to take. It's not uncommon that the temp for low-land species rises above 90'F during those 3 months. I normally shoot for ~85'F. For fish from higer elevations, I keep them slightly below 80'F.

If they do not spawn that first rainy season, which is actually just a series of week of water changes and a week without, I start them on a second 3 month period. The "rainy" seasons are done for 6 weeks at a time. Once they have started spawning, I can usually keep them going by following the week on / week off schedule.

It may also be pertainant to mention that a lot of breeders which never breed, aside from the 2 genera being talked about, will start if given a longer dry season. I've recieved emails and calls from several breeders who are convinced that only a small portion of their fish are capable of spawning. It is a common mis-conception with Hypancistrus zebra. If given a longer dry season, most will come into the rythm the first cycle if they are actually mature. I believe that the fish which are spawning with the short dry seasons are just the ones that are more inclined to spawn regardless of the circumstance. The "guppies" of the catfish world :wink:

Larry Vires
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Högö
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Post by Högö »

:ang: The 750l is too big to fitt in my room. My parents won't let me throw away my desk. The max lenght is 160 cm. My parents won't let me keep the aquarium in a room that has got an wooden floor. I'm giving the 180l tank to my littlebrother as soon as i will get a bigger tank,
so my littlebrother picks plecos to the 180l tank. Hope he will get the plecos to spawn :lol: .
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Post by Högö »

Ok, littlebrother saw a adult L-52 pleco in our local petstore and he thoght that it would be a nice plec try to breed in the 180l tank. It read that it can change color. When i have been in the store somtimes it's dark an sometimes almoust colorless. The info about that plec was quit limited and i would want to know more about this strange creature :D .
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