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L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 00:21
by Aquafinatic
Hello everyone,

I'm hoping that someone may shed some light on my situation. I have a trio of L338's, and they are approximately two years old. When I looked in the Cat-eLog information, it stated that breeding was "unreported", so that is part of the reason that I have these questions. Also, when I searched this forum for L338 listings, I saw various posts, but I didn't see anyone discussing spawning/breeding.

These fish have spawned twice at my home, but the eggs did not hatch. I am to blame for at least one of the failures. :YMSIGH: Here is what happened:

The first time, I was planning to move the fish to another room. I was new at breeding Ancistrus at the time, so I carelessly removed the cave, without doing any investigation beforehand. Halfway through the move, I discovered that there were eggs in the cave. The male HAD been sitting in the cave, waving his fins before I started the relocation, but again, I was REALLY NEW at this venture. The next day, those eggs were gone. I don't know if the male ate them, if he kicked them out of the cave, or what happened.

The second time, I got into a "pickle" when I was setting up my new fish room. I was short on tank space, so I temporarily put two other pair of Ancistrus in the tank with the L338 trio. (It was a larger tank, so I thought I could get away with it.) A few days later, when I came to separate them and take them to their new homes, I discovered that all three males were sitting on eggs, including the L338 male. Not knowing what else to do, I left all of the fish in there, fed them generously, and did sufficient water changes. A few days later, all three clutches of eggs were gone, and I don't know what happened to them.

Since that time I've raised many spawns, and I'm very careful to avoid ruining my fish's spawning efforts. The L338's have not spawned again, to the best of my knowledge. I live in Wisconsin, U.S.A., and we are just coming out of our long winter season. I don't know if these fish avoid spawning during the winter.

SO HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS:

1) That page says that breeding is unreported, but do you actually know of any successful, captive spawns?

2) If I hadn't goofed up in those instances, is it likely that I would have ended up with fry, or are the L338's KNOWN FOR spawning, but not completing the job?

3) If these fish do spawn in captivity, are they known for preferring certain times of the year for doing so?

Thank you. I'd appreciate any information. We are about to sell our house and relocate, so I have to cut down from 34 tanks, to about 5. This means that I'll have to make several decisions about which species to keep, and which to let go. Any L338 information will help me to decide. Cheers, everyone.

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 01:23
by djtonyel
Hi I have a group of L-338 one male two females and four unknown . Now im raising the second fry

Very easy species of ancistrus to breed ,but in this species the male leaves the fries or eggs for a meal.
My L-180 the last two breedings he kick out the eggs. I think from several breedings I had that the father understands if something is wrong with the eggs and he eat them or kick them out.

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 01:32
by racoll
First off, well done for getting half way there with the spawning.

My first thought though, was are you sure they are really ? There are many, many Ancistrus with the same colour pattern, and a similar fish could be any one of them.

Without knowing they were caught in the Rio Puraqequara, it might be hard to get a proper ID.

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 01:44
by djtonyel
Only the L-088 looks similar

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 08 Apr 2011, 08:55
by MatsP
They are indeed fairly uniquely coloured, and L338 is definitely available in the trade relatively frequently. [Unless there several species that look similar].

--
Mats

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 04:34
by racoll
They are indeed fairly uniquely coloured
I was wondering how typical this was. Sure, the photo is of a reddish coloured fish but are all imported individuals like this?

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 08:19
by MatsP
As far as I'm aware, the only other Ancistrus that is a reddish brown with no spots (as an adult) is L088.

Here's some pictures of mine (which I no longer have, as they were left in my fishhouse and I couldn't get to pick them up before my wife gave them away).
IMG_1187.JPG
IMG_1194.JPG
--
Mats

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 08:43
by Aquafinatic
QUOTE: "My first thought though, was are you sure they are really L338? Without knowing they were caught in the Rio Puraqequara, it might be hard to get a proper ID."

Well... No, I guess I'm not ABSOLUTELY certain. I purchased them from a seller in Florida, who went out of business after some very cold weather. =(( All I can say is that mine look just like the one that is listed as L338, in the catalogue on this site. The seller did not provide much information, and when I tried to contact him, it seemed that he was no longer in business.

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 23:18
by djtonyel
Nice photos mats

This is the same fish as the photo ,is just that they loose the spots when they become adults.
L-088 looks the same ,but it doesn't have the orange stripe on the tail.

In the latest book of plecos back to nature by ingo Seidel, It shows a species of ancistrus from rio branco
It looks the same like my young fish of L-338

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 11 Apr 2011, 00:11
by MatsP
Ingo actually looked at my pictures and identified the fish as L338, last year at the CSG conference.

--
Mats

Re: L338's Spawned Twice, But ???

Posted: 12 Apr 2011, 09:28
by Unungy
Aquafinatic wrote:QUOTE: "My first thought though, was are you sure they are really L338? Without knowing they were caught in the Rio Puraqequara, it might be hard to get a proper ID."

Well... No, I guess I'm not ABSOLUTELY certain. I purchased them from a seller in Florida, who went out of business after some very cold weather. =(( All I can say is that mine look just like the one that is listed as L338, in the catalogue on this site. The seller did not provide much information, and when I tried to contact him, it seemed that he was no longer in business.
One of my favorite plecos, could you post some picture of your fish?

Saul