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bekateen wrote: ↑29 Nov 2017, 20:57 My tank is heated to 84F. When I do water changes, the magnitude of the temperature drop in the aquarium varies from summer to winter, based upon how cold the water coming out of the faucet is: In the summer, even my "cold" tap water is nearly 80F, so there is little change in overall tank temperature. Currently (in late November), the tap water is very cold, so after refilling the tank, the final aquarium temperature is 72F.

Cheers, Eric

Jobro wrote: ↑02 Jan 2018, 23:07 Eric, time to show some of your L397 offspring, please.

What are you doing to drive these insane growth rates on them?

Jobro wrote: ↑02 Jan 2018, 23:07Eric, time to show some of your L397 offspring, please.

nabulus wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 19:29Do you still do normal water change (e.g. 50%) while the fish are mating or the males are fanning eggs?

bekateen wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 21:24

nabulus wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 19:29Do you still do normal water change (e.g. 50%) while the fish are mating or the males are fanning eggs?

Hi Ke,

Are your new plecos already trapping? Or is this for your other plecos? (which would also be nice!)

Cheers, Eric

Jobro wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 21:00 I agree with Eric. It is better to neglect a waterchange for some days, when there is breeding activity going on. The less attention you pay to the tank during these days, the better. This is probably true for all species of plecos.

nabulus wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 22:03It is my L134 group.
Since last December one of the males kept trapping different females and the duration for each trapping usually lasted for more than 1 week and sometimes more than 2 weeks. However, not a single time they produced any eggs.
I wonder what I might have done wrongly.

Jobro wrote: ↑06 Mar 2018, 09:43 If you have multiple tanks and multiple males, I would try swapping the dominant male (the one that traps the females so long) into a different tank. Sometimes the less dominant males are the better breeders.

bekateen wrote: ↑05 Mar 2018, 20:34 Hi Ke,

To answer your question, it depends: When a male is trapping a female, I'll skip a water change for a day or more. But I have done water changes while males were fanning eggs several times.

In fact, I'm in the "no water change" situation right now. Saturday I was going to do a water change in the tank with my L397. I currently have one male fanning eggs, so I was going to do the water change. But I noticed my

Panaqolus albomaculatus

courting - a male and female going into/out of a cave that day, so I didn't do a water change. The water in that tank was already overdue for a change (it had been 2 weeks since the last water change), but I skipped the water change Saturday and again Sunday because of the courting mustard spots.

I am nervous to let the water get so yucky (@nabulus, you've seen how dirty the water is in that tank currently). But then again, I recall my first ever L397 spawn occurred after a period of tank neglect, and I only discovered the dad on wrigglers AFTER I did the water change (the water was so filled with tannins, poop and food sediments that I couldn't see into his cave before the water change ). So I'm hopeful this time that maybe the neglect has allowed the mustard spots to spawn.

To be clear, I'm not saying either of these species NEED dirty water to spawn. I've had multiple spawns from my L397 in clean water since that first spawn in dirty water. Rather, I suspect that the lack of attention which occurs to result in a neglected tank might provide the hesitant fish extended privacy to encourage them to spawn the first time. Once they figure out how much fun spawning is, then they seem to do it more and more, regardless of how much I bother them with water changes.

That's really all speculation on my part - just a theory - but it's a pretty safe theory.

Cheers, Eric

nabulus wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 20:10Eric, I have to say that I am now impressed by how much poop these wood eaters can produce every day. WOW these guys are purely pooping machines! I can not imagine what your aquarium would look like without WC for two weeks or more, since you have so many L397 juveniles and adults in there. That would be full tank of poops...

bekateen wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 21:04

nabulus wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 20:10Eric, I have to say that I am now impressed by how much poop these wood eaters can produce every day. WOW these guys are purely pooping machines! I can not imagine what your aquarium would look like without WC for two weeks or more, since you have so many L397 juveniles and adults in there. That would be full tank of poops...

Have you started feeding them the raw sweet potato yet? The orange strings of poop are the funniest.

The good thing about wood poop is that it is relatively nutrient poor, so a lot of solid poop can build up in your tank - the water is adrift with suspended solids - but the nitrate levels don't go through the roof fast.

Remember, once you start getting your own babies, save some of the parents' poop to add to your fry baskets as part of their first foods. I'm convinced it helps them as they start feeding.

Cheers, Eric

nabulus wrote: ↑13 Mar 2018, 22:52
Not I have not started giving them sweet photos but I will do.