PlanetCatfish.com

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I hope its in the right place. I am in love with Pleco's. I have always been a small aquarium hobbyist. I haven't ventured above 6 gallon eclipse tanks but I have a few with some happy beta's for the last 2 years.

I am now in a position to buy a decent sized tank. I am looking at a 30 gallon 36x12x16 glass tank. I might be able to go a little bigger to say a 40g but definitely not a 55 gallon due to space.

I really have my eye on a the 36x12x16 size. Looking at the various articles on this site and others I want to ask you if a pair of Hypancistrus sp. (L066) and a school of 6 x Penguin Tetra(Thayeria boehlkei) will be happy in this size tank?

What habitat is L066 from? I read the Cat-eLog page on L066. it says "Lower Xingú or Tocantins, Pará, Brazil" but I am looking for specifics. Do the enjoy a Driftwood Snag, Clear Water, River Bank, Piedmont Stream, Black or White water habitat?

I am prepared to give the L066 a house they will very much enjoy I just don't know what that would be. I would like to have a pair and a mid water schooling fish to add some motion to the tank. All suggestions are welcome.

I have equipment questions but I will save them for after I have a habitat and fish selected since that choice will reflect the equipment choice.

I look forward to your replies.

Jason

Rio Xingu and all the other rivers floating down from the Brazilian shields are clear water rivers. L66 are widely spread in the lower Rio Xingu, volcanic rocks and sand is very common in this river. High temp. between 28-30 C, pH neutral or slightly lower is fine.
Use a powerhead for the circulation and keeping the oxygen lewel high together with an external filter, the tetra's will like the current too so you dont need to worry.

Janne

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if you meant these lava rocks.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 42_9224264

Because images of the Rio Xingu show rocks more like these.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 2_80230877

Just wondering which is right.

Also does anybody know of other fish in the Xingu that enjoys the fast current that L066 enjoys? Besides other pleco's of course. Everything I have read about Penguin Tetra(Thayeria boehlkei) says they like a lot of plants and very slow moving water.

I would love to hear Idea's on what other fish could go with a pair of L066's in a White Water Biotope. I want to recreate L066's natural habitat as close as I can. That means little to no plants and a fast current.

Which leads me to another question. How fast should the current be? And how do I judge if its too much or too little. Again the tank size will be 36x12x16.

Thanks,
Jason

as far as rocks are concerned, I would go with smooth, rounded "river rocks" as found in home depot.

Do a search on river tanks. Whitepine had a pretty cool set up, as did Shane.

What habitat is L066 from? I read the Cat-eLog page on L066. it says "Lower Xingú or Tocantins, Pará, Brazil" but I am looking for specifics. Do the enjoy a Driftwood Snag, Clear Water, River Bank, Piedmont Stream, Black or White water habitat?

Hypancistrus live in crevices and fissures in rock. A true reflection of habitat would be just large rocks and sand.

Although I am under the impression that a lot of the volcanic (lava) rock in the Xingu is very sharp and jagged, I would avoid this in the aquarium. I would go for rounded rocks as recommended by arndogg. You can simulate the crevices by piling large rocks on top of each other (make sure you silicone them though!). The closest thing to what you want is a typical Tanganyika or Malawi cichlid tank.

Also does anybody know of other fish in the Xingu that enjoys the fast current that L066 enjoys? Besides other pl*co's of course. Everything I have read about Penguin Tetra(Thayeria boehlkei) says they like a lot of plants and very slow moving water.

Unfortunately there aren't many fish exported from the Xingu main channel other than stingrays and plecs. You'll struggle to find anything else. I've been keeping my eye open for Teleocichla cichlids (which are found alongside plecs), but no luck yet.

Luckily I understand the penguin tetra is found in the Xingu. I don't know exactly their habitat requirements, but several members of this forum keep them in their Hypancistrus breeding tanks, so I think they are fine in the current.

How fast should the current be? And how do I judge if its too much or too little

While Hypancistrus come from fast flowing rivers, they are not as adapted for life in really fast currents as say a Chaetostoma. They live in crevices away from the strongest current. The most important thing is the oxygen level, which comes from water turnover and circulation.

I would recommend about a 10x turnover in that tank, so a powerhead of between 750 and 1000 lph would work well. I wouldn't worry about creating uni-directional flow. Just position the pump at the surface and let the water deflect off the other end of the tank.

I would always include an airstone, as you will need to pump fresh air into the system.


Good luck with the tank. Make sure you post some pics.

Just a note to add onto Racoll's: if you choose Chaetostoma spp. or Hypancistrus spp., there's quite a difference in water temperatures. The Hypancistrus spp. tend to like their water quite warm where as the Chaetostoma spp. tend to like their water quite cool, almost less than room temp. It's something to think about. One of my favorite tank sizes is the 20 gallon long. This is 30" long x12"x12". I really have grown to enjoy it. If I could do it over again, I'd do it with more smaller tanks, like the 20 long. I'm glad you're planning in advance. Good thinking and welcome to Planet Catfish!!
Amanda

Hello,

I have another issue. I recently tested my water and the results were not very pleco friendly.

Straight Tap results:

PH - 8.5 - 8.6
GH - <20 mg/L
KH - 20 mg/L

I tested the water again last night and the results were off the chart.

I spoke to the water company and their test for ph ranges from 7.6 - 9.8 depending on where in the line they test.

I have a mature 6 gallon tank that tested like so.

Matured Eclipse 6 results:

PH - 8.0
GH - 80 mg/L
KH - 70 mg/L
Ammonia - 0 mg/L
Nitrite - 0 mg/L
Nitrate - 0 mg/L

The substrate is leetching the increased hardness and there is drift wood in the tank. I assume that is whats buffering the water down to ph 8.0.

I tested some day old dechlorinated water.

Dechlorinated water results:

PH - 7.6-7.7
GH - <20 mg/L
KH - 20 mg/L

It looks like if I want to keep Pleco's or other south american fish I will have a water fight on my hands. This is a total bummer. Anybody have any ideas on how I can regulate my waters ph?

- Jason

Have a read of this Easystreet.

It should answer a few questions.

You are lucky that your water is very soft. However it seems that the water company are putting alkalinity into the water to prevent corrosion.

As I say in the article, plecs can adapt well, but a pH of 8.5 seems a bit too high to me for wild caught fish. Your conditioned water would be okay though, as I think you are alright as long as you are under 8. However it worries me slightly that the pH drops so quickly.

I would not consider adding acids as with such a low KH you could have a disastrous pH crash on your hands.
Perhaps maturing your water for couple of days with peat would work.

An RO unit may be a good option for you, as with your very soft water you would get little wastage.

You then add your own GH and KH to the RO water to get your desired pH.

You can get these units for about $100.

I would be glad to have water as soft as your from the tap.
My KH is 74 ppm
Alkalinity as CaCO3 is 125 ppm
Conductivity is 335umhos/cm
PH 7.4

Your tapwater pH is unusually high for USA water. The EPA guidelines are closer to 7.4 to 7.8

Not bad but I like softwater fish that mostly prefer softer water or eggs require softer water for good hatching.

I would switch out your substrate for something more inert. If you are making regular large water changes then it seems like your pH would stay within the zone.
Owning a RO filter is always a good idea if you wish to be exacting about the chemistry of your water.

Purely a matter of personal taste but I like to pump air to the venturi inlet of the powerhead instead of an airstone. It definitely provides the illusion of the flowing water effect. Pumping the air is usually necessary if the powerhead is more than ~six inches deep or more from the top of the water column.

I guess the best thing for me to do is to set up the tank. Cycle it and go from there.

I will report back once I have the tank set up and running. Thanks for all the advice.

- Jason