L015 - Candy Stripe Plec (Peckoltia Vittata)

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 16 Jan 2006, 08:29

Found some lovely specimens of this fish at the weekend. Would like to add them to my 4ft S.American community tank, which is planted and has lots of wood and hiding places. Other bottom dwellers include 1 x male whiptail, a few Otos and some corys. The rest of the tank has some tetras, pencilfish, a pair of Keyholes and a lone female Apisto. Agassizi (will buy her a mate when I find one!).

Anyway, my question is, do you think these fish would be suitable in this planted community? The guy in the shop said his stripped his plants, but the info on this site says "well fed individuals will not eat plants". I do make sure plenty of food goes down to the corys. Does anyone have any experience of this in a community tank such as this? I thought they were gorgeous fish, and very active. I would love them as part of my community, but thought I better do some research first! Any advice would be gratefully received.

duonri · Post by **duonri** » 16 Jan 2006, 08:37

I agree that
"well fed individuals will not eat plants".
Remember they will still rarely eat your plants. If your plants are important to you , you should consider this.

f3mg · Post by **f3mg** » 16 Jan 2006, 10:14

Well, I had one L15 for almost a year in a community tank, and never even knew they would (even if rarely) eat plants.
I had him in a 500l heavily planted aquarium... and never noticed any harm to any plant, except for clumsiness... which all pl*cos more or less suffer from.

But then I guess mine was well fed, and individual behavioural differences are what make fish such a challenge.

Regards,

Francisco

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 16 Jan 2006, 10:33

I think the only plant they'd be likely to bother in my tank would be the Amazon Sword. I had a standard Ancistrus (bristlenose) that did a good job of stripping that when he was around 4". But he was also quite agressive towards everyone else in the tank and was re-homed. How have you found them to be as tank mates... do you find them aggressive? Are they like to stress out the other fish? They did seem quite active in the tank, but there's a lot of space and cover in my tank.

Thanks so much for taking the time to pass on this information. It is much appreciated...

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 16 Jan 2006, 10:44

Hi!

When my pair was small I had them at my girls place in a planted tank and they never bothered the Echinodorus Ozelot Green I had in there. They will definately not eat Cryptos and from what ive seen only eat the Aufwuchs from Anubias.

At that time I had them together with C.hastatus and habrosus and they never cared for them much. Exceptions are feeding times of course when these fellows can quite agressively defend their tablet.

Imho its a very good fish for a community tank. Although mine are kept only with their fry and together with 1x L002 in an unplanted 64 L tank.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 17 Jan 2006, 11:50

I have a few plants in my tank, and I've never seen the even NEAR eating the plants, they move around without even touching the plants. Of course, I make my best effort to feed them - and I've got Rosy barbs in the tank, which is definitely NOT a good choice for keeping sensitive plants...

If you can see a female in the shop you're going to, let me know where it is...

--
Mats

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 17 Jan 2006, 21:58

They are of varying sizes, around 2.5 inches, give or take. I'm not very good at remembering sizes like that. I will see what they have when I'm next there. I think there were about five of them in the tank. I'm not an expert with these but am I right in thinking the males have the little spikes around the tail (and eventually bristly pectoral fins) and the female doesn't have any such thing?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 17 Jan 2006, 22:42

Mindy wrote:They are of varying sizes, around 2.5 inches, give or take. I'm not very good at remembering sizes like that. I will see what they have when I'm next there. I think there were about five of them in the tank. I'm not an expert with these but am I right in thinking the males have the little spikes around the tail (and eventually bristly pectoral fins) and the female doesn't have any such thing?

Yeah, but the Odontal growth (bristles) is not present if the fish is either juvenal or not well conditioned. My two fish didn't have any (notable) odontal growth when they were sold to me, but one of them have lots of odontal growth on the tail and some on the pectorals, and the other one is showing some odontal growth on the tail.

I was just hoping that either you or the shop staff would be able to tell the difference...

--
Mats

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 18 Jan 2006, 08:10

That's why I told you the size. I keep Zebra Plecs and though I successfully breed them, I still have trouble discerning sexes in juveniles. But what works for sexing Zebs might not be the same for Candy Stripes. So any hints for sexing would be helpful and I'll make an educated guess. If the shop will let me, I could snap some pics.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 18 Jan 2006, 08:27

Hi!

Male also has a wider head in Peckoltia. Also thicker pectoral rays and a thicker dorsal one (in my pair at least)
and also the easiest identifier the papillae
male
female
if you do a forum search youll find a sexing Peckoltia vittata thread with some more pics i think

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 19 Jan 2006, 08:31

I'm looking at those two pics and the most difference I can see is the colour... Maybe I'm just not very observant!

What should I be looking for there?

laurab5 · Post by **laurab5** » 19 Jan 2006, 12:01

If you want to try and breed these, look at shanesworld. Or you can ask me, I have bred L134, which are very similar

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 19 Jan 2006, 12:09

If you want to breed them and they are at 4-5 cm Id say you'll have to wait at least 1.5 years before something will happen.
Mine took 2 years to grow out and finally breed.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 22 Jan 2006, 10:21

This is the males head

and this is a 4 cm P.vittata. You'll notice that its quite impossible to tell a sex at this size

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 22 Jan 2006, 12:22

I might mosey out there today and see what they look like. I'll let you know what I find out. And if they let me take any pics, I will.

I'll get back to you...

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 22 Jan 2006, 15:48

Hi guys... I succumbed and bought these two. There are three more in the tank, one is quite big, at least as big as the biggest of these two here. The other two aren't tiny but markedly smaller than these two. I would have taken pictures, but to be honest, there wasn't enough light in the tank and they didn't want me to use flash, which is fair enough. Anyway, here's the two I picked out. The slimmer of the two has longer cheek odontodes than the other one. They are outside the little cheek pocket whereas the bigger one's are only just visible... I don't know if these pics are any use for trying to sex them or not, but thought I'd post them anyway. They're currently dripping in a bucket (big pH change

) so if you need any more pics, they'll be accessible for another maybe two hours.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 22 Jan 2006, 16:04

Nice ones.

On first look Id say you got 2 males...but Im not sure about the left one. The pectorals are a bit thinner than in the right one which is by about 80% a male.
Also difficult to tell the head shapes with this angle. Good view is from the side.

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 22 Jan 2006, 16:33

OK... they're in the bucket at the moment, but when it comes times to move them, I'll put them in something clear so I can photograph them from the side. I've got a little 5-gal tank that's sitting empty. I'll put them in there before adding them to their new tank. Will take a little while though. I'll just leave them dripping for now and when they've recovered a little from their journey, I'll do another round of photos. Thanks for your help!

Back soon...

laurab5 · Post by **laurab5** » 22 Jan 2006, 16:43

I would say the left is female. Her pectorals are thinner and curve more

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 22 Jan 2006, 22:29

Here are a few more pics. More from the side, if that helps anyone. I even managed to get a few from below for those that can recognise those signs...

Both from the side, the furthest one in focus

Same shot, but the other in focus

Another side shot, other side

One on its own

Don't know if this is clear enough but this bottom views of both together

Only got one clear(ish) shot of the bigger one from below

Well, there you go... what do you think?

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 23 Jan 2006, 07:06

Big one is definately a male.
The other could be a female...but Im not sure about that.
Lets say theres a more than 50% chance you got a pair.

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » 23 Jan 2006, 08:42

Well, they seem to have survived the transfer and change in pH OK. They hid last night but this morning they are both chewing on the same piece of mopani wood. Looks like they're settling in OK so far!

I guess time will tell if it's a pair or not, but for now, they're both beautiful and getting on well with each other and other tank mates. Hooray!

Thanks for the help guys. It is very much appreciated. I'll keep you up to date on their progress.