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In my unheated tank, the temperature is staying pretty constant at 63 degress. Is this too cool/cold for ? I would really like to had a small group to this tank, but don't want to add any if that temp is too cold.

This does sound quite OK to me, 63 F ~ 19-20 C, or am I wrong?

About 17.

What species of Chaetostoma?

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Mats

Hi,

It depends on the species of Chaetostoma.
For species of the lower land (which are most common in trade) this temperature would be too cold.
In the opposite this temperature would be fine for the species of the mountain streams.

so long
Norman

I have a hard time ID'ing the ones around here, but they are most likely one of hte following species (also keep in mind that I am terrible at remembering, the list below is just similar looking species to what I have seen):







and of them the seems to be the closest to what I remember seeing.

Around here L444 is among the most common, that's for sure. And I'd say it's too cold for that one. Same applies to C. aff. milesi, C. dorsale, C. milesi.

From my reading of things, possibly L335 - but I personally would think that a few degrees warmer would be more ideal.

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Mats

thanks for that info Mats. I will scout out this weekend to see what we have and take my aqualog book with me to try to ID. I currently have some longfin bristlenose in there that are doing great and putting on size pretty quickly.

Define "too low". The lower critical limit for most tropical fish is in the region 8 - 12 celsius. At about 15 celsius many species start to struggle. 17 degrees is acceptable for a temperate species like common Ancistrus or Corydoras paleatus, and borderline acceptable for most tropicals, but is far from optimal and I wouldn't try it with anything I cared about.

63F is on the cooler side, but just fine, for many of the commonly imported Chaetostoma from Colombia. High ambient temperatures around Villavicencio, the major export center for many Chaetostoma spp, are in the upper 70s to low 80s (26-29C) and lows in the upper 50s to low 60s (12-16C).

Species from the lower foothills, like most Venezuelan spp, would not tolerate temps that low for long while high Andean spp out of parts of Peru and Bolivia would tolerate much cooler temperatures. As Norman said, it really depends on where they come from.

It should also be noted that I doubt Colombian spp would spawn at temps that low. I think 68-72F is probably the ideal range for day to day maintenance of the most common spp found in the hobby.

-Shane

I put a heater in last night just to bump up the temp a few degrees. This morning I wake up to 65.5 degrees. Do you feel that if it does get to 67-68 taht that would be enough for the common concensus of chaetos or just the boliva/peru species?

I really want some in my fishroom, just don't have the tankspace in others ATM!

I think 67-68F will be just fine.
-Shane

Thanks again for all your help. My tank was staying pretty constant at 67-68 degrees so I went out on saturday and picked up 3 chaetostomas. They were in a tank labeled "rubberlip pleco"... that doesn't help with ID.. So I asked the lady to remove all decorations in there and they had about 12 specimens to look over. Of the 12, 2 were L127 juvies, 10 were chaetostomas. I then looked more closely at them. Half of the chaeto's had spots covering their body (natural white spots, not ich...) and were a faint greyish brown color. The others were all different in some way and one was very yellow in color. Looking back on it I wish I had gotten that one just to try to find out what it was.. oh well, Friday I will be going back for more.

Anyways, I was unable to take pictures due to my camera being used by my wife, so they are now swimming in the 125 gallon and not coming out for photo ops. They are about 3" TL and are once again a greyish brown base with natural whitish spots all over them. Are there any ideas that come to mind on what species it may be? I was thinking , but they have more spots going down their sides than what I see in the pictures posted in the catelog.

Any help or ideas is appreciated. They will have their own tank in the next couple of months to focus on breeding.

Given import patterns, it is almost certain you are seeing and . This thread will help

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 38&t=34705

Looks like the two entries are under construction for these spp.

-Shane

Thanks! I really appreciate your help! I didn't know they were finally described! That is good news~!

what kind of tetras can be found around CHaetostomas, and also, are whiptails found in the same areas? Trying to plan out the tank.

By whiptails, I take it you mean loricariinae? is the only loricariinae I have caught side by side with Chaetostoma spp. but it is not available in the trade. is caught in the same drainage as your specimens, but further downriver where the water is more calm and warmer.

Tetras of the genus Creagrutus are the most common in these hillstream habitats. However, as they are mostly plain, silvery fish they are rarely exported.

This may sound strange, but the one topwater fish I have found in every hillstream has been guppies. Wild type guppies would be a good choice as they stay at the top of the tank and are unlikely to bother the catfishes.

That said, if I were setting up a similar tank I would keep only Chaetostoma in it. New Chaetostoma imports can be very picky and hard to get eating. I would make sure I was well past this phase with them before I added any competition for food.

-Shane

Shane wrote: Tetras of the genus Creagrutus are the most common in these hillstream habitats. However, as they are mostly plain, silvery fish they are rarely exported.

I may be able to find something similar in due time...

Edit:: Found some Pseudochalceus kyburzi and found that Hyphessobrycon anisitsi might work as well (omnivore and can be kept in the cooler water)

Shane wrote: This may sound strange, but the one topwater fish I have found in every hillstream has been guppies. Wild type guppies would be a good choice as they stay at the top of the tank and are unlikely to bother the catfishes.

Never would have guessed this, but it is a way to add little (litterly) flashes of color.

Shane wrote: That said, if I were setting up a similar tank I would keep only Chaetostoma in it. New Chaetostoma imports can be very picky and hard to get eating. I would make sure I was well past this phase with them before I added any competition for food.

That is definately a good point. I was happy to see the specimens I picked up had normal stomachs and seemed to be in really good health. I wouldn't want anything to risk these guys as they are going to be the "spotlight"

If you don't mind me asking (I know I ask WAAAY to many questions), How do people go about putting rocks into buckets in the sun to get algae growth? I have tried this in stock ponds, in plastic totes that were only 8" deep and I could not for hte life of me get algae to grow on these rocks. I used half tank water and half new water, would that be the issue?