L052, tips on care/breeding/conditions

[Azmeaiel]

I have recently purchased two fish I believe to be L052. All has gone well with acclimatising, they both began eating right away, although one is a little skinnier than I would like. They are both in a 60 gal tank, heavily planted, containing a lot of driftwood and large rocks. Both seem quite active day and night. They are approx 7cm and 9cm, one has a slightly pointed head, the other has a broader head, larger eyes (this may be because it is in better condition though, the eyes look slightly sunken on the smaller one). no real difference in cheek or fin odontotes as yet. Water is ph around 7, creeps down at night to around 6.8.

At what time might I be able to try and sex these fish?
what are good conditions/environment. The tank was set up for bristlenose ancistrus who bred well, conditions are being kept the same for L052.

what would be a good sized colony to start with?

any other information would be appreciated. The next shipment of these fish is supposedly coming from germany. can I expect to get some more L052 from this shipment? We seem to get a mixed bag every time 'peckolita pulcher' gets imported into this country

[Janne]

Have you searched for L52? There should be plenty of information in earlier post's, around 8-9 cm SL for the female and a slighter bigger for the male are the size when they get mature...the older and bigger the male grows the longer and heavier odontodes growth on the pectoral fins which can be very long. What they will send to you from Germany only the wholesaler knows, ask your retailer if they know the origin or send the wholesaler a mail and ask them.

Janne

[Azmeaiel]

have done a big search but have found only one or two threads with any substantial info (actual accounts of care and breeding). Customs are letting this fish into the country, incorrectly, so any information on them from suppliers is wrong at best, they are even labelling them as L162, clown plecos. They are a recent import so only people who have interest have any clue what they are. The only info I could get while asking for some more was 'our buyer is getting more from germany'.

Thanks for the info on sexing them. Are they usually more 'hairy' than other loricards in general? I notice they both seem to be covered in fine spikes.

[Janne]

Yes they are much more hairy on the pectoral fin if you compare with the more common familys, even the females get hairy on the pectoral fin but it's thinner and shorter...fully grown males around 14-15 cm SL is not unusual that they have 2 cm long odontodes on the pectoral fins.

Janne

[Rantosa]

i thought that i had 2 males... but after researching and looking at their body shape i came to a conclusion that i had a pair but a week or so after doing the wet season i lost the female and then the male...
There is a guy called catbrat on this forum who has got them to breed 3 times or maybe even more.

[Azmeaiel]

Thanks, I found catbrats article a little while ago. I was guessing they might be a bit 'hairy' compaired to other loricards. Think I will wait a little longer before trying to tell them apart, so far one seems to have a 'male' body shape but no significant odontodes on the fins. The other seems to be female but has more odontodes on the fins I guess time will tell.

[CatBrat]

Hey,
My babies from my latest spawn just started hatching tonight. As the others have said the male has much longer odontodes than the female (my male's around 10mm my females around 2mm).
I have found them very easy to breed provided they have a suitable spawning site and enough space. This latest spawn I didn't give them a trigger or anything (other than changing them into a larger tank about 3 days before (that could have triggered them tho, lol)).

Cheers, CatBrat.

[blueguava]

Has anyone noticed that the ventral fins on the males are more elongated than on the females also? There are some great pics of this here http://www.plecoforum.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=238&PN=2 There is also some reports on spawns etc.

Kind Regards
Gavin