Baby L260!

madattiver · Post by **madattiver** » 03 May 2004, 16:05

great job barbie.. glad to hear dad figured out how thie whole process works now...

INXS · Post by **INXS** » 04 May 2004, 12:32

That's great - you really have the QA's down now. Congratulations.

Cillana · Post by **Cillana** » 05 May 2004, 19:48

That is sooo cool! They are soooo cute! I was thinking about getting a Queen Arabesque for my 39 gallon. I already have a breeding pair of bristlenose in my 55 gallon. Do you think a pair of QA's would breed in a community planted 39 gallon? I have hollow log that's open on one end. Do you think they would breed in it? That's what my bristlenoses are breeding in. (not the same log, mind you)

Post by **Barbie** » 28 May 2004, 16:00

The QA's have spawned again already! I was pretty excited to see the female back in the cave with the male so soon after I removed their last fry, but last night when I checked for eggs, the male was hovering on a pretty good sized egg mass. I guess they didn't think it was too soon ;). I've also had a spawn from some of my "spare adults" in the main tank. He just had 7 fry, but that's definitely going to get them their own condo. I'm intending to set up a 55 gallon with dividers with trios of QA's in the end compartments and a trio of L239 in the center. If anyone has a reason or two that might make that a bad idea, please feel free to tell me! I just think it would help to stabilize the water parameters and keep me from worrying myself silly with all that fish volume in a little ten gallon tank, hehe.

Barbie

madattiver · Post by **madattiver** » 28 May 2004, 16:06

awsome.. u seem to be having great luck with these guys... any new pics yet????

Post by **Barbie** » 03 Jun 2004, 14:38

In peeking into the cave this time, I could tell there were more fry, so I made the decision to go ahead and take them early, just to make sure there was no problem with them. I found 29 fry, when it was all said and done. His first batch was 10, the second 11. Even if both females spawned this time, it would still seem to be a large spawn. I'll get pictures this evening. It was very surprising when I started counting them!

Barbie

madattiver · Post by **madattiver** » 03 Jun 2004, 15:21

29 fry.. that is awsome... i can't wait to see some pics of these little guys.

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » 03 Jun 2004, 16:06

That is quite the happenin' group you got going there. Glad to hear of such a large spawn with such a rare fish. Now if I can just get my zebra plecos to have that many!

davidkozak · Post by **davidkozak** » 03 Jun 2004, 18:08

I just found this thread and read it in it's entirety...very cool! congratulations

david

Rense · Post by **Rense** » 03 Jun 2004, 22:19

nice!
I sometimes want to start a South american tank

CatBrat · Post by **CatBrat** » 29 Dec 2004, 11:25

Sorry to dig this up from the dead, but I have just re-read this from the start and was wondering how they have been going for you Barbie? Have they spawned for you again (although a better question would probably be how many more times have they spawned for you

)? Have the brood sizes increased or are they still relatively small, around 10 or so? Are they still in that 10g

?

Also, do you always use a trio when breeding L260 or do they do better with a large breeding colony?

Look forward to any response...
Cheers, CatBrat.

Post by **Barbie** » 29 Dec 2004, 17:56

D'oh, I just knew someone was going to want an update if I didn't keep adding to this thread! ;)

I have approximately 150 fry growing out now. The original trio are still in their 10 gallon tank, yes. The largest spawn to date has been 30 fry, but he averages just below 20, most of the time. They are on a hiatus at the moment, and haven't spawned in 8 weeks or so. I'm not too worried about it, they've definitely earned a rest period! I haven't tracked their spawns for awhile now, but I'd say they've spawned another 4 times since I stopped updating the thread?

The 5 "spare" L260 that I had in a 55 gallon tank with other fish started to spawn a couple months after the original group. They were using spawning caves to hide in, so I did a single cool RO water change and sure enough, it did get them going. The second time there was a spawn in the tank, I had 2 males on eggs at the same time. I didn't think that would give them enough territory to spawn at the same time, but it obviously did, and has another time since.

I would think any size group of L260 would work. I used a trio when I started because I had a small tank to work with, and a group of 8 fish. Melting snow water to use in a 55 gallon for daily water changes during the rainy season was just not feasible, for some reason!

Does that help?

Barbie

CatBrat · Post by **CatBrat** » 29 Dec 2004, 20:52

Yes thatâ??s great thanks!! Wow, 150 fry

You said that the average spawn was around 20 fry. Is this with both females at the same time or just a single female?

I currently have 3 'smallish' L260 (about 5cmSL), which I would love to breed when they reach maturity. I would love to have more, but I think that these 3 are almost all the ones in the country, as no-body I have talked to (on the
New Zealand Fish Keeping Forums) has even heard about any of these in NZ and I have bought every one I have seen.

Thanks for your help...
Cheers, CatBrat.

Post by **Barbie** » 29 Dec 2004, 21:17

I've never seen more than one female involved in the spawning, but they are pretty quick about it. I rarely catch a female in with him at all, just find him on eggs! I can't say for sure exactly what happened the time I got the bigger spawn. I thought it must have been two at once, but then he was on eggs again within a week or two of when I pulled the spawn, which wouldn't necessarily support the thought that both females had just spawned a few weeks before. Sorry I'm not more help.

Good luck with your project! Mine have grown and done well on frozen daphnia, bloodworms, and other meatie foods. Warmer temps also seem to stimulate them to condition and grow faster.

Barbie

CatBrat · Post by **CatBrat** » 29 Dec 2004, 21:48

Thanks again. I'm just wondering wha the price of them is where you live? Over here they go for at least $180.

Cheers, CatBrat.

Stræde · Post by **Stræde** » 29 Dec 2004, 22:03

Hey CatBrat
Just saw them on a German site price 17$/piece (3,5-5 cm) what a difference !

Good luck with your breeding attempt.

Flemming

Kenneth Wong · Post by **Kenneth Wong** » 29 Dec 2004, 23:40

Barbie,

How soon do you pull the spawn on your L-260 after spawning?

Post by **Barbie** » 30 Dec 2004, 01:13

They sell wholesale here for 15-18 dollars, on average. I wish I had all the fry I have where you are instead, but thems the breaks ;). I pull the fry as soon as I can't tell they have an obvious yolk sac anymore. I've pulled them as early as a few days after hatching, but I figured they were the most sensitive to injury in that period, so I leave them with dad a bit longer now. I've had a few fry with flattened noses in all of this, and to be honest, I think I caused it trying to get them out of the pots with a turkey baster full of water!

Barbie

CatBrat · Post by **CatBrat** » 30 Dec 2004, 19:41

Well Barbie, you know you could just send them over too me and I could sell them

.
I have done a search, but I can't seem to find the size that L260 reach sexual maturity. Can someone tell me, or direct me to a thread where I could find this?

Cheers, CatBrat.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 30 Dec 2004, 21:18

Hi!

My smallest female that laid eggs was someting like 5.5-6cm long, of course the number of eggs was huge but I was impressed by the rather small size...

Cheers
Yann

Post by **Barbie** » 01 Aug 2012, 22:19

OK, I know this is resurrecting a really old thread. My goodness how time flies! In the years between, I spawned and sold hundreds of these guys, then crashed the tank they were living in about 4 years ago. I had a few spawns from the replacement group, the the male was an abusive jerk and managed to kill what I thought was my only 2 females from the group of 9 wilds. I got rid of him (he is a decorative centerpiece in a customers tank and she tells people he is in solitary confinement for his sins! LOL). The replacement male and the one fish that I wasn't positive of it's gender (it shows quite a few distinctly male characteristics, but the shape just really said it was female to me), have been together for about 6 months with no spawns, but I have been very busy and not the best fish mommy. In the last two months I have put quite a bit of effort into taking better care of everyone, and this morning I found fry in with the male!

I have two groups of young F1 L260 growing out already that should begin spawning in the next year, along with a mature group of wilds that a dear friend of mine is sending me in the next week. Hopefully I can get back up to speed with spawning all of these fish that I just love!

Barbie

johho · Post by **johho** » 02 Aug 2012, 11:36

Lovely to hear Barbie!

I have just ordered my wild L260 and I will get them in two weeks. So sat down and browsed the internet for information. Just wanted to say that this thread has been most helpfull!

Kenneth Wong · Post by **Kenneth Wong** » 02 Aug 2012, 16:40

That's wonderful to hear. Sounds like the pleco factory is back in business.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 05 Aug 2012, 02:50

Over the years my L260 breed and produce fry. I don't notice until one day I see I have some new little fry.
I have some old wild and my F1's which have all bred and produced fry. So I now have my own F1 and F2 gen of breeding age. I can't be sure if my F2's have breed.
I do know that my F1's successfully bred at no more than 24 months and perhaps as few as 20 months old. This is sooner than I would have expected. They are so similar in most every way to H. zebra but it seems they can reach sexual maturity at a younger age. At least I personally have never heard of 20-24 month old F1 H. zebra breeding before they were at least three years old but that doesn't mean it hasn't ever happened.
I find L260 fry to be a bit more delicate than L134 and L333. In this respect they are very similar to H. zebra at first. They grow very slowly and do not grow and compete well when kept with L134 or L333 even if all are the same sizes at first.
I find that water chemistry is not very important.
Maintaining high water quality and doing more frequent water changes at perhaps about 10*F cooler than normal 84 maintenance temps has helped.
I have bred mine in nearly straight RO water to straight tap which is similar to my neighbor, Barbie. We both live on part of the Columbia Plateau,(100 miles apart) which is hundreds of massive lava flows over the past 90 million years. Maybe over 100 separate flows over the areas. It results in generally moderately hard water of 200 to 450 ppm TDS and the pH tends to be 7.2 to 7.8 depending on local conditions and local water utility procedures.
I have just as good results with very soft to tap water. Mine have never been predictable breeders but I began with 6 and presently have 40+ adults and near adult fish.
I met Barbie just as I got interested in small fancy pleco breeding and her advice and some fish trades between us were helpful to my L260 breeding project. I have heard of breeders who seemed to be able to produce them in better quantities than myself but then I have had exceptional success with breeding L134 for six years while others haven't. I have raised over 500 L134 over the same time it has taken me to rear about 40 L260's.
Guess we can't win them all. I have success breeding wild Discus but struggle with "easier" species. I think it depends a lot on how much attention and preference one has for one fish over others.

Baby L260!

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Re: Baby L260!

Re: Baby L260!

Re: Baby L260!