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when i got my L239 last summer, he had cheek odonts and bristly pectoral fins, but the bristles were quite small. hes been eating well and has colored up beautifully to a deep navy blue without a hint of charcoal. the neatest thing is that his cheek and fin odonts have grown much longer. his cheeks have these half inch long bristles now. in the photos in the cat-e-log, they appear golden. mine are deep deep blue. his fin bristles are golden though, and look like some sort of medieval weapon.

and hes become restless. he was always very shy, though hed come out when the lights are on to feed. but the last week hes been roaming the tank where he used to eat, then run back and hide. i have two other small plecos (dekeserya brachiura that is about 1.5" and a panaque maccus who is also about 1.5") in with him (he is the largest at 4"). i had one big pile of driftwood in the center of my tank, but with him being so restless, i wondered if he was looking for his own place, so i broke up the single pile to 3 piles. this morning he was under one of the smaller piles

does anyone else have any of these guys? im wondering if hes looking for love. ive got an opportunity to grab 4 more. ive got a 60 gallon that i could dedicate just to the L239s. ive tested my water in his tank: pH is 7.2, temp is 78°F, ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite is 0ppm, nitrate is 20ppm. i just added a whole mess of new plants which seems to have made all of my fish frisky. water changes are 18 gallons out of 55 every week.

im not trying to make this happen in a hurry. with everything ive gone through with the one i have, im expecting flukes/internal parasites, stress and having to tempt them to eat again. i also expect a crazy amount of shyness. even if they never breed, i am just thrilled to have the opportunity to have several individuals and to be able to provide them with a good environment and make them happy.

I have one in a 125... he has long odontodes also. He is not restless, though. I do hope to *eventually* add more should my LFS ever find them again for me! I don't hold hope to breed, but would like a little group of them. He has a rock 'house' that he loves very much. They may not be super flashy but sure are one of my favorites out of what I have kept. His bristles are I believe golden-ish if looked at in the correct light. Otherwise are blue-ish. His odontodes started growing back surprising quickly after I got him - but I was VERY lucky with him in that he had no illness and my only major struggle was getting him to eat. Once he ate reliably he went into the 125 and has eaten very well since - though still working on veggies! the ones on his cheek are surprisingly long! (at least to me! )

im so glad you have had good luck with yours. they do seem to be tricky to feed. but once they get the idea, they eat well. im with you on a colony, regardless of breeding. my bf just finished our double stand (100 gallon on top, 60 gallon on the bottom). the 60 gallon will be home to 5 of these guys. they will be the sole fish species. im really excited about this. i love loricarids in general, but these guys are my absolute favorite. once everything is set up, i will have to share photos. i dont think there are enough pictures of these guys

It is sort of funny... I was going to use my 65 as a breeding attempt... but have decided I would like an individual pl*co with some fish I can actually see in the day and so I will have my group in my 125 where my loner seems quite happy. I was also a bit intimidated by my water and how I would have to change it and keep it steady! He is fine in it now, but it is not breeding conditions. There are NOT enough pictures and this is not helped by the fact that I can not for the life of me - take a good pl*co pic.
It took me 2 weeks to get him to eat reliably, and another 2 weeks to get him off food that was soaked in garlic! Looking forward to seeing some pics when you get them all set up!

oi, my poor darling was starving and fluke infested when i got him. the improvement has been amazing. i ended up doing the crushed food/egg white on rocks to get him to feed. i need to pick up a gh kit. the one i have doesnt tell you exactly (to a point) how much is dissolved in the water, it just gives you a general range. from what i can tell, i have fairly high pH, but low hardness (pH is usually around 7.2-7.6, my gh test says my hardness is low). once i figure out more specifically what the parameters are in the 60, then i will start gradually adjusting. ill have to watch the parameters as i add driftwood to the tank as well and see how quickly things rebound. its going to take some work, but ive been trying to read up everything i can get my hands on (thank you babelfish).

pH is, in my opinion, not the real issue when it comes to water parameters. Temperature and conductivity (and probably osmotic pressure, but aside from generally measuring conductivity, it's not easy to figure out) is what really matters to the fish.

I'd also say, instead of getting a GH kit, get a conductivity or TDS meter - they are actually the same type of instrument, the difference is what the scale of the TDS meter and conductivity meter shows - the conductivity-meter shows MicroSiemens per centimeter (Siemens is the same as 1/resistance-in-Ohms, sometimes called "mhos", reverse Ohms) for the water, and the TDS meter shows "PPM" (or milligram/liter) of "Total Dissolved Solids" (which roughly equates to GH + KH + other minerals dissolved in the water) - but both come to whatever they display by trying to get a small amount of electricity to pass through the water. Extremely pure water will have 0 conductivity, RO water is usually around 30 ppm or 15 uS/cm. A TDS meter will cost a bit more than the GH test-kit, but it's a useful tool to have, and it's much easier to use, as you ge a number directly on the display. The one I have cost 15 GBP, which is, in current exchange rate around US$20 (I think).

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Mats

thank you so much for the tip. *starts digging*

Yes- and TDS meters are cheap! The TDS in my 125 is about 280. 240 out of tap! I am a due for a water change.
I also had to use the egg white/rock to get him to eat, then weaned him onto pellets soaked in garlic which is all he would eat for 2-3 weeks. He eats fine now, though. Very nice and peaceful fish. I asked about breeding them a little while ago- got some great advice, and do hope to some time in the future possibly but for now I am not. My water changes pretty frequently, too.
Edit: My TDS meter cost $20, too.

my new four should be in next week

THEY CAME IN!!!

*dances*

i think i got 2 females and one male...they are pretty small (about 2.5" TL) and are obviously immature, but two have really tiny bristles on their pectoral fins, while the other one has a fine down of obvious odonts. at this point they all have tiny cheek bristles. the two with the less hairy pectoral fins have longer extension on their fins; almost feathery in appearance and are distinctly rounder in shape when looking down on them from above. they look pretty good though. nice bulgy eyes, no sunken bellies. i also havent seen any signs of obvious external parasites. they will be quarantined for a few weeks though, just to be safe

Congratulations!!! ((clapping))

www.airwaterice.com presently has an HM TDS/EC/Temperature Electronic meter for 1/2 price, $24.95, including postage.
I bought the same meter 2 years ago for $50 and presently, www.thatfishplace.com has it for %61.99.
It is a versatile and reliable meter and at $25, a pretty hard deal to beat.

thanks for the link

and now...

the "ladies"



the "gentleman"


im stoked

They look very well fed - much better than average fish that I see.

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Mats

i feel the same way. they looked really good. i added a piece of driftwood after taking the photos and when i checked on them minutes ago, there was a blue on it munching away. they also appear to have at least nibbled on some homemade loach chow. im really encouraged by this

and i just came home to find one female dead

oh no!!!

Sorry to hear that...

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Mats

the other two made it through the night... one looks pretty darned good. relaxed breathing and attitude. and miles of poop the other is more skittish and breathing harder (though not gasping). but is pooping as well. *shrugs* one of the L239s died in transit so perhaps a couple were weaker than the others and these guys dont have a reputation for being the hardiest of fish. im doing what i can to get the other two fish into good health

Good luck. When I got my blue - the LFS ordered 3 and mine was the only one who lived, one died in transit and one the day after I brought mine home. Glad that they are eating! I always relax a little bit once they eat!
This is my dilemma for if I get more - They only order them for me, but I only want 2 max. at a time (that is how many my Q tank will fit {about 3 more in total}) but they aren't hardy so I don't think the LFS will want to do 2 orders for me, assuming 2-3 survive in the first place.

yeah, i want some more too, but i think im going to wait until i know that the ones i already have are in good health. i dont want any more to die in my care (even though im pretty sure the fault isnt mine, i still feel guilty). the two remaining are being pretty active. they appear to have a mild case of ich, but at this point im too nervous to want to add salt or anything else to their water. ive bumped up the temp and have lowered the waterline a bit so as to allow the hob filter to create more surface turbulance. ive also been doing small water changes daily. this evening the ich seems to be retreating (sighs with relief) and im going to continue this conservative treatment unless i see signs of it worsening.

how are they doing?

they have perked up considerably and i have evidence that they are in fact eating (their poop changed from dark brown to green). they still have ich, but they seem a lot stronger, so i am trying a slow increase in a small amount of salt to help them along and so far so good.

the most hilarious behavior they seem to have is that they like to hang out on the leaves of the wisteria i put in there. they just perch on a leaf and sit. theyve been roaming the tank and have occassionally chased each other, but its more a "shoo" action. no one has been injured (not even a split fin) and color, eyes and bellies still look good

this is the female:


and the male:

I have used Kordons Rid Ich + on a tank that had a BN and a betta, the betta brought it in. It worked great, no ill effects on anyone.

is it invert safe?

hmmm I read the whole bottle and it does not state. It says some elephant noses and sting rays may be sensitive.

It says it contains formaldehyde 4.26% (11.52 % formalin) , and zinc free chloride salt of melachite green.

I have been googling it and alot of posts say NOT to use with inverts, but some say it was ok with theirs? So unknown. I wouldn't chance it.