PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum and thought I'd ask some advice

I have 3 L200's that live in a 4 foot 50 gallon, they're my spoiled miracle babies (they were delayed in delivery during the blackout last month for 4 days,all survived) the seller that I bought them from has a few L128's up for grabs and I would really like to add them in with the L200's, but I'm concerned that this may raise problems with them

think it will be ok if I rearrange the decor so that they re-establish territory....or will they fight anyway?

L128 will get aggressive when they reach larger sizes. See this post.

yipes, I'm glad I asked , I don't want anything to disturb the L200's so I think I'll pass on the others
Thanks for your help

Can you set up a seperate tank. L128 cats are rarely available it would be a shame to miss them. Darren

so true..I'd love to have them, I had a spare 20 and I just purchased some crazy botias and put them in there, the guy I purchased the L200's from told me about the L128's about a month ago...he said they were too tiny to ship and needed a few more weeks, so they're fairly small...what size tank do you think I'd need to house 4 or 5 temporarily? (till a bigger tank comes along)
I just hate to miss out on them, especially since they're so difficult to sex, somewhere in the back of my mind I keep wondering if possibly, maybe, it's something crazy like the L128's are the males and L200's females or something of that sort, I wonder if maybe the males travel down to breed or vice versa, it's a long shot but I'd love to have some in my possesion in case it's ever discovered. I suppose I could always "clean out" my 29 and return the stock to my lfs then set it up in the same river type fashion as the 50 that houses the greenies hmmm..

the L128's are the males and L200's females or something of that sort

Apparently not. See this post.

I was lead to believe that L200(Venezuela) was the same as L128 but a different colour. In one part of the river the fish are green with yellow spots and in the other part of the river they are blue with pale blue spots. and in between they are a colour in between. We certainly see the 3 colour varieties on import. As far as size goes the largest L128 we have had were over 10" and very nice. The males are distinguished from the females by their shape (a little thinner) thicker pectoral fins with bigger odontodes. These are present on good conditioned fish over 6". I would say L128 appears more territorial than the L200. Many(40) L200 between 4" and 8" were quite happy in a 50gal tank, this might be because of the high numbers. When fewer(15) L128's 6" to 10" were put togetherin a 50gal tank they seemed more 'hasselling' towards each other although there were never any torn fins. The fewer that were in the tank the more hassel they gave each other. This did not appear to be the case with the L200's (but they were not as big)
http://www.tropicalfish.co.uk

I think I'll stick with the L200's
Maybe I can accumulate a few more to go with the 3 someday, it's good to hear that so many lived happily in a 50, these 3 seem to have spread out and all staked out territory in their 50, but surely I could squeeze a couple more in

Kelly, Did you read this month's CoTM on L200?

as a matter of fact I did read it,it's very interesting and I was soooo glad to find that article , it was the 1st time I've been able to get any info on them

Thanks so much for your help & saving me from making a brutal mistake by adding big bullies in with my babes (still want the bullies though I'll find a way )

I have an L128, he or she is easily 6" long and lives with three L200's, a 5" royal, a 4" L273 Titanic, a bushynose and a 5" L014 and some miscellaneous loaches. My L128 is not aggressive at all, not even to the smaller L200's (approx 4"). The L200's are the tank bullies, they chase everyone, including each other and they all live in a 6 foot tank.

Originally the L128 was smaller than the L200's - maybe they have been together long enough that the L128 doesn't realize it is bigger now and it is not aggressive because of a pre-established pecking order.

That's very interesting ,yikes, just when I think I have my mind made up ...
I've noticed my L200's are a little on the rough side too, one in particular is always shoving the other 2 around
Thanks for sharing your experience with them, I'll take it into consideration when I'm deciding what to do....what to do