PlanetCatfish.com

60 gal, 48", Fluval 406, internal sponge powerhead

Hello all, 2 quick questions
1) for both of these species, what length/width caves would you recommend for breeding? I will provide an assortment but am unsure In terms of depth as there are many options out there.

2) I am looking to breed both of these species eventually, but will be getting juveniles. My first and foremost concern will be the peckoltia compta. I know that they should each be in their own tanks when they are of breeding age. My question is, would I be ok keeping 6 of each in the same tank until they are of breeding age? I figure I'm looking at minimum 12 months, probably 18 before juvies will be gravid and ready, will these 2 species be ok growing out to that size together? If not i will probably be forced to just go with 12 of the P Compta since my "fish room" only consists of 3 tanks at the moment lol.

Thanks for the help guys!

Has anyone kept L134 and L333 Juvies together safely? Little help?

My first stop would be the breeding reports on the Cat-e-Log page for your target species

my 333's like the 1.5 x 6" caves

Ive kept them together as Juveniles and Sub Adults. Just make sure you have enough caves and hiding places for all of them.

Thank you guys very much for your replies. Tough to decide between the species tank of P.Compta or going half and half. If only I had the funds for a 4th tank haha
Are the L333 ok at the high temps that the PC's like? Figure the tank will be about 84'

I don't think it'll matter a great deal whether you have 6 of each or just 12 . I find that the more juveniles you keep together, the slower they grow. Your tank should be big enough for 12. IME, there are often 1 or 2 individuals that grow much slower but when I move these to another tank without similar species they soon catch up again with their siblings.
The high temperature is not strictly necessary for . I have found that they live and grow just fine at 25-27C (77-80F) and mine have also spawned at 27C. Higher temperatures might increase the growth rate though. Other than that, frequent (twice a week) partial water changes also seems to really get them growing.

Thank you panaque. It's very interesting that yours spawned at 27! Everything that I have read says they need 82-84F for breeding. What type of setup are yours in? Did they breed with any other species in the tank or were they alone? What age did they first spawn? Are yours wild caught? The fish I am looking at are F-1.

I Am leaning towards keeping 6 and 6. But will probably only Keep them together for 12-18 months, then put the 6 L333s in a 20 long of their own and add 6 more Peckoltia compta to the 60 gallon To get a different bloodline and grow them out with the 6 mature PCs. Would keeping New juvies with my breeders impact their spawning efforts? Thank you for your help guys!

NChops134 wrote:Thank you panaque. It's very interesting that yours spawned at 27! Everything that I have read says they need 82-84F for breeding. What type of setup are yours in? Did they breed with any other species in the tank or were they alone? What age did they first spawn? Are yours wild caught? The fish I am looking at are F-1.

There's a thread on my breeding observations of this species that should answer your questions: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=34826.
It would be interesting to know what other people's experiences are regarding temperature for this species. It might be that I would get faster growth rates and more spawns if I kept them at a higher temperature, who knows? You would need multiple identical tanks with identical stocking and feeding regimes but kept at different temperatures to find out the true effect of temperature. Point is, it works for me at 27.

So now I'm considering adding 2 to 3, L183 Ancistrus to the 6 L134 and 6 L333. Am I crazy/greedy? Am I asking for problems keeping all these together?

Not crazy or greedy but the diets are fairly different between Ancistrus and the Hypans. People do it with the common BNP's, but with L183, not sure if you will have problems.

I will double check on the diets. I do know that L183 like the warmer temps that would suit the other plecs. Also I believe, and I could be wrong, that they are found in the same general region of the amazon as the L134. I am setting this up as a loose tapajos biotope, so that might work. I was more concerned with territoriality being that this would be like 14-15 plecs in a 60 gallon tank. There will be plenty of wood and caves, probably even some floating plants for cover, but I worry that this many will affect growth rates and would lead to fights over space. But I could be worrying over nothing.