Yellowy/Goldy L260

[AndrewC]

I recently bought a group of L260, but now that the fish are settled, they are turning out to have a black colour with a yellowy/goldy patterning, while any L260 i have kept before have had a black body with white patterning.

Is this the same as L333, it depends on catch location whether you get a black fish with white patterning fish, or a black fish with yellowy/goldy patterning ?
Has anybody seen this before in L260 ?

I have ten of the fish, and put three in a hatcher for pictures, they are a bit stressed, but the largest fish shows the yellowy/goldy patterning well, the other two might not look like it, but they have yellowy/goldy patterning as well, just not as bold as the largest fish;

[CanadaPleco]

Yes there are 2 kinds of L260, I've seen both side by side in person at someone elses place. Hes actually got breeding groups of both variants. Not many ppl have noticed that there is 2 kinds of L260.

[drpleco]

It depends on diet and I've seen fish go back and forth. Don't quote me, but I think a more veggie-rich diet promotes the yellow.

[AndrewC]

The only thing i would say about diet, is this fish were just imported around a month ago, and have lived on a wild food before then, i'm not sure they have been in captavity long enough to be influenced by what we feed them ?
Not sure what the shop the had was feeding them, but i have had them for just over a week and have been feeding frozen; mysis, artemia & bloodworm (alternated each day) along with some crumbled up broad beans, which they eat up fine.

Are you saying that diet is also the cause of the two colour forms of L333 ?

In the tank and unstressed all of the fish have a yellowy/goldy colour to them.

[exasperatus2002]

I cant say, but I like your taste in pleco's!

[drpleco]

It's not the same in 333 - though the intensity of yellow can change based on age, stress, etc. I'm not 100% convinced that b&w l333 is even the same fish as the yellow variant, or exists at all, for that matter. I've seen too many grow up to be 399, 401, 66, 450, or are hybrids of some of those. That said, I did have a nice pair that fit the profile but the male died and I sold the female to another breeder. My l399 group was purchased originally as b&w l333 and turned spotted with lyretails as they grew.

In short, l333 is a mess but white/gold 260 isn't the same sort of thing. It'll take a while for you to notice color change but it'll happen. I also have a 2yo growout from white parents thats more goldish - to further complicate things It gets the same food as the parents. It think sometimes there's a tendency with plecos to get too caught up in fish needing to look identical but this isn't always best. Best to err on thr side of caution, but a 260 is a 260, in my opinion anyway.

[plecoboy]

Is it possible some L411s got mixed in by the importer? He has some real noticable stress bands and his pattern seems more squiggly than the others too.

[AndrewC]

I have a group of b&w L260 growing on in one tank, and this group of yellowy/goldy L260 in another tank.
Would you mix the the colour varients ?

[AndrewC]

I was sent a link to a L260 profile on L-Welse; http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... 75&act=url

The interesting bit is the line just below the pictures of 260s teeth, where it says; "A variant that occurs near Santarem, should show a strong yellow stripe colour."

[drpleco]

well, there ya go.

[Janne]

All L260, like most of the Hypancistrus species can vary in ground colour, has not so much to do with their diet more about the water qualities and their conditions. No mistakes with L411 or any other species, they are pure L260 without doubts,

Yes there are 2 kinds of L260, I've seen both side by side in person at someone elses place. Hes actually got breeding groups of both variants. Not many ppl have noticed that there is 2 kinds of L260.

It's one and the same species.

Janne

[smitty]

I just learned something new. Thanks!

[apistomaster]

L260 can change their looks so easily that I have seen mine look like your L260 but they are usually just black and white.
I think the color can be influenced so easily by so many different factors I would not be quick to conclude there are two distinctly different color forms. If there is, the distinction is below my detection threshold.
You have a very nice group of adult L260 and I wish you success at breeding them. I raise L260 but they are my most difficult pleco to produce regularly so it has taken years to get close to 30 young and older adults. I loose some batches of my fry and have had an equipment failure that set me back on how many adults I have but I began with six and now I have around 30 so I am making some slow progress. I would like to see them become more productive but they breed in streaks. I have gone up to almost two years without any spawns and at other times I have had four broods in quick succession. They haven't been predictable at all for me. At least I have gone on to breed my own F1's and have about 12 1-1/2" one year old F2's. Maybe as we have more tank raised specimens the average success rates will improve? I only raise 10 to 14 fry from each successful spawn if I don't make some dumb mistake and kill some. Like when I placed 20 small fry with a much larger group of L134 fry. Half of those L260 ended up getting starved to death before I separated them. Live and learn.
They will likely to be produced in the hobby at about the same rate as H. zebra unless a better method is found.