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Unfortunatly my whiptail has died, so i'm now left plec-less

so am looking for some catfish to add.

currently i think i might be a little on the crazy side, as i'd like to theme this tank on rio tapajos. biotops are fine, but i think i'm living up to my nickname.

so did a search and found several plecs from rio tapajos, L260 being one of them. now i saw them for sale on trimar, but they have an offer on for 3 for £60.

what it makes me wonder is tare they supposed to be kept in groups. they have synodontis pertricola on similar special offer, and i know they like to be in their own company.

hence why i was wondering, it dsent mention anything in the profiles.

also what are queen arabesques like for eating algea. (they will eat it continuasly, not go off it like common plecs do when they get big)

Unfortunatly my whiptail has died, so i'm now left plec-less

My best advice is to find out why your whiptail died before you add any new fish.

There could be a problem with your water quality or filtration.

what it makes me wonder is tare they supposed to be kept in groups.

You don't need to keep Hypancistrus sp. such as L260 in groups. They'll do fine alone, but its more fun to keep them in groups as they interact and may even breed.

How many you can keep will depend on your tank size. You don't mention how big your tank is and what other fish are in the tank, so i can't recommend a maximum number of L260 you can keep.

also what are queen arabesques like for eating algea.

Hypancistrus sp. will not eat your algae, as they prefer meaty food such as bloodworm.

An algae problem in your tank could indicate excessive nitrogenous compounds in your water. These could have lead to the demise of the whiptail.

unfortunatly it was the filtration that led to the death of the whiptail, it made its way up to the powerhead...

I have a jewul trigon 190 so it only 70 cm (28") lenght either way, but has the same footprint as a 48*12 tank.

theres not excess algea currently, its just i like to keep a plec to keep it down,

BTW nitrates are about 7.5ppm (1/2 way between the 5 and 10ppm mark on the scale)

any plecks from the tapajos area that do like algea??

any plecks from the tapajos area that do like algea??

Yes the Baryancistrus sp. LDA33 likes algae and is from the Tapajos, although they get pretty big, and you may struggle with more than a couple of adults in that tank.

They are slow growers though, and you'll have plenty of time to get a bigger tank.




Link....

10"is a bit big for this tank. plus it'd eat up my stocking capacity.

i allready have 5 geophagus (whish will reach 6") and am thinking of about 15 lemon tetras. and probably 5-6 Corydoras ornatus. maybey i'll go for 3 L260

did another quick check, allthough L134 arnt effective algea eaters they will eat some i assume, (also i'm planning to use floating plants to limit the algea)

or what about L264 or L370.

i know i'm sounding like a noob, i dont know why it is i want to theme it exclusivly rio tapajos, jut do.

Unfortunately the L264 won't touch the algae, and I would be surprised if the L134 do, but i've never kept these.

The L370 are Ancistrus, so will eat algae, but unfortunately are not commonly imported.

Good luck in trying to get hold of some......

the 134s would eat some algae, the hypancistrus species though would much rather have a meaty diet

I've kept Hypancistrus L066 and L260 in the past and have a trio of L333 currently.
They definitely don't eat algae (off the glass) but just one small bristlenose will keep
your tank spotless.



I'm not sure about Peckoltia L134 eating algae but I will say that they are my current
favorite catfish. I just had 6 beauties about 2.5" (6 cm) arrive yesterday and one look
was all it took. They were pretty active for new arrivals and seem to be doing well
after was must have been a rough ride considering the condition the box was in.
I would recommend the L134 over the Hypancistrus species but that just my opinion.

I would say, from my experience with that they are not GOOD algae eaters. Some sort of Ancistrus is a much better choice. Whether you work hard to find one that is matching the biotope, or you just go the "cheaters way" and get something more generally available (such as a common ) is your choice...

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Mats

i've more or less given up now.

been told thet the geos are quite likly to much on the odd lemon tetra (only chacarin (other than piranha)that i could find from Rio tapajos)

so just going to choose some nice catfish generally. so gonna get C sterbai and some pretty Ancistrus and maybe a Hypancistrus

I have recently found Ancistrus sp. "Tocantins Tambo" L71 on some availability lists.
It's not the Rio Tapajós but it's fairly close if you would like find a true catfish species
rather than a "man-made" or hybrid type. I actually have tried to avoid many of the
albino types of fish including cichlids in the past as I prefer to spawn true African Rift
Lake species, however, the popularity and recent auction prices of some of the albino
fish has changed my opinion to "If you can't beat them, join them". A little profit from
these very popular "cheater" fish has helped me to be able to buy the fish I really want
to keep including both wild South American catfish and wild African Rift Lake species.
Since I don't have a bottomless pocketbook, I need every penny I can get especially to
help cover the outrageous cost of next day air shipments which have increased this year
due to high jet fuel prices. The fuel surcharge for DHL is currently 18.5% and FedEx is at
12.5% so about $6-$9 extra on a $50 shipping fee.

Just to clarify: My thought on was to have the natural colouring with the natural short fins, not the man-made variant.

As far as I'm concerned, it is not a hybrid - if you have any evidence that shows that it IS, then I'd be happy to change my mind. This gets brought up every now and again, and when I first learnt about it, I thought it was true too - but after discussing with for example Shane on the subject, I've come to the conclusion that the "hybrid" theory is just something brought up to explain the fact that no-one can find the true species - but that's not actually a valid argument as such... If it was a hybrid, you'd expect the offspring to weir off in one direction or another, so that the offspring would show more or less of one of the original parents, depending on which side had the stronger emphasis. This is not the case in these fish, the offspring looks just like the parents.

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Mats