HOW WOULD YOU SETUP L177 TANK

[crf50hugo]

Well here I am asking more questions ahout this one fish. I want to set a tank that looks good and that would be a home for my one L177 and maybe one or two more L177 in a 50 gallon tank. I like to have it look natrual from were it come from. Anyone have any ideas or even better any pictiures of their setups for nuggets. Here is what I have to work with.

[MatsP]

The river Iriri (at least where these fish live) is shallow, fast running water, with lots of fist-size or head-size smooth round rocks. There are no plants.

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Mats

[sunfish]

Water very warm and well airated. Not too hard, but they are not too fussy about that, provided it doesn't change. High water current.

Most plants won't survive, especially Echinodorus species seem to be very tasty. The only thing that really works in my tank is Vallisneria. Provide enough caves (you should have more caves than cats). My nugget prefers big, roomy hiding places (used to be sheltes for my corys, 4x4 inch and open on two sides) to the traditional cylindrical ones.

[jerry58]

Hi
If you are thinking of changing the decor in your 177 tank I would tend to wait for a little while as your fish is recovering from malnutrition and maybe unsuitable living conditions changing the tank at this point my well set the fish back wait till gets on top of it.
They do tend to do better in a well established tank not so much in a new setup I would try and keep at as much decor as you can at least the old bogwood in the tank at the mo.
They defiantly will not tolerate changes in water parameters and now you have it eating is a good thing to many changes can almost certainly reverse this and cause the fish to die at this point.
I had a very nice 177 and a while up grading to a bigger tank and there was not a lot in size difference just wanted a bit wider for catfish and took the best of care and it stopped eating then died shortly after it was in good shape for ages before the tank change and I was gutted.
Hope it helps.
Before and after pics
Jerry

[Haavard Stoere]

I agree with Jerry that it is safer to wait a while.

The tank should have a large external canisterfilter (around 1000lph)and one rather large powerhead(1000-1500lph) with a venturi airdiffusor. For a biotope look you should use rounded dark rocks in different sizes and maybe some small pieces of wood. The substrate should be fine sand, but most of the bottom should be covered in rocks. To create shelters you can place rounded flat rocks on top of smaller round rocks. L177 actually don`t need or like slate caves or tubular ceramic caves (mature fish might, but we are not there yet). You can use plants, but they serve no purpose. L177 looks better in groups, so I would acquire at least a couple more.

This is my Rio Iriri tank. It houses 15 medium-large L177.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... &start=140

[apistomaster]

I would not abandon your wet/dry filter but I also use an Eheim classic 2217 or similar as an auxiliary filter with my wet/dry filters. The wet/dry is best able to keep high dissolved oxygen levels compared to canister only. Even if you use both, adding an air stone and power head for strong circulation is a good idea.
Keep the wood, add some rounded rocks and de-emphasize plants. Plants are beneficial to improved water quality but are not a normal part of L177 biotopes and as your photo shows, your tank is not yet optimized for Gold nuggets. I often use free floating plants like Hornwort rather than fighting to keep rooted plants rooted and eaten by catfish. And L177 will much on some plants but not Hornwort.

All the Gold Nuggets are very sensitive to changes so make any changes gradually.
I would also go for a group rather than only one but ensure there are many hiding places and that you allow a large area of territory per fish. I would allow at least 2 square feet of bottom area per Gold nugget when keeping them in groups. They are very territorial and need a good deal of area for grazing. I think they are a beautiful pleco but a royal pain to keep well.

[Farid]

hi guys,
as my LDA33 i would never again keep a Baryancistrus in colder water than 30 degrees...i keep mine in 33°C and they get if not every day ...every second day fresh vegetables! chunks of soft wood is important... i wont garantee that your plants will be untouched as Baryancistrus are stricktly vegetarians...(but of course i mix with tabs, deep frozen shrimps and so on)

as i've seen a breeding tank of L177 here in switzerland of a friend of mine i would rather say ...you should get a bigger tank

these catfisch measured easily 25cm +!! he kept 4 of them in a 150x50x35cm tank a stream pump for cirsulation and a "Hamburger Mattenfilter" that easy...

but no plants just wood and stones very simple installed...nothing i would call a demo- tank but he was the first who got fry ...and a lot today most of them are sold as 10cm large fish!

farid

[apistomaster]

Hi Farid,
Just goes to show us that plecos in general only need a most basic breeding set up.
Attending to species specific requirements like providing structures like breeding caves, temperature, diet, currents, suitable water chemistry and minimum territory per fish are about the only things that matter.
I know I use a minimalist approach. I have not tried to breed any pleco species larger than Hypancistrus because I value my larger tanks more as wild Discus homes than for larger plecos. I am glad others are accommodating larger species and succeeding in breeding them.

[crf50hugo]

Well its been awhile but I made some changes to the tank. I added two more L177 and some clown plecos. I also got the ok from my wife to build a 247 gallon plywood tank in the garage. Its going to 4x4x2. Ill start on that in a few months.
Here is a picture of what I have done to the fifty gallon.