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Hey everyone, just wanted to know what everyone's thoughts were on lighting on a pleco breeding set up and if anyone had success with having a light over a pleco tank.

I personally do not have a light on my pleco tanks, just get a little light shining in from a fluorescent light strip across the room. Any one have success spawning plecos with a light above the tank? If so what species?

I have had my L140s spawn both with and without light over the tank. Regular bristlenose spawned with light on the tank.

It doesn't seem to affect them in the slightest...... I have a lot of tanks that have lights and have spawns often in them as well as the tanks I don't have lights. As long as that is what they are used to lights are fine....

Chuck

L260, L134, L183 all spawned in planted tanks with lights on

Thanks everyone for your input. Very interesting!

When I began, all my tanks were lighted. I got between 400 and 500 zebra fry in a lighted tank. But lights cost money, running them costs money as well. More importantly, lights make heat. So, I turned off all the lights over pleco tanks and now they are only turned on when I clean the tanks because it makes it easier to see what I am doing.

I am sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. When I feed at night and go into a room which is dark and I turn on the lights so I can see, there are plecos out in the open all the time that bolt for cover when the lights come on.

The other issue that comes to mind here is not so much light related as it is dither related. I have read, and tend to believe, that bottom dwellers have two unique adaptations. The first is they have downward facing mouths that allow the to attach and to eat all at once. The second is they have upward facing eyes. This is because most threats in their world will come from above. Because, I mostly keep plecos in species tanks, there are no small fish swimming around above the plecos. I have read/been told that the presence of non-threatening smaller dither fish swimming above signals to bottom dwellers that it is safe to be out in the open. If predators approach the reaction of such dither fish can alert the bottom dweller to the threat. With no dithers in a tank, this might effect the behavior of the fish moreso than the presence or absence of lighting.

I am curious in this respect as to whether those of you who keep dither fish with their plecos have noticed a difference between how plecos behave relative to lighting depending on what else may also live in their tank? I now keep only Hypancistrus, but my initial plecos were tanks strains of bristlenose and planted communities and I would see them out a lot. But this may have been due to the continuing hunt for algae more than anything else.

I use selfmade LED lightnings, they dont get hot and dont eat that much power.

I have a feeling that dithers will make the plecos feel a little more safe.

But I think most of their behaviours are more up to the species. Hypancistrus for example will never be much out in the open during day, even when I had no lightning on their tanks for some months. Just daylight through the window into the room was still too bright for them. Whereas some peckoltias will come out during brightest hours to get some food or chase each other around.

The tank bred bristlenoses are usually out in the light very much, only the adult males like to hide in their caves. And that's pretty much regardless of dither or lightning. Even the blackwater species like L183 are often out in the open in lighted tanks during their juvenile days. Only after about 1 year they start to hide more. But young hypancistrus usually don't show themselves during day a lot. Panaqolus and Panaque on the other hand are very bold and seem to not fear the light very much.

These are just my experiences though.

Very interesting information. And I agree with the dither fish. I had some breeding pairs of red shoulder manacapuru in a 55g tank with a big breeding group of L260 that contained 8-10 fish, and the tank was lighted as well, the when I tossed in food, they were swimming around everywhere and eating in the wide open looking for more food. It's a really cool sight to see Hypancistrus react that way.

Agree that lighting does not appear to impact spawning in most tropical species. We do know that photoperiods have a strong impact on signalling many temperate fishes to spawn. I would keep this in mind if trying to spawn a sp from southern South America.
Also, while lighting may not impact spawning it does greatly impact the aquarist's ability to monitor the health of the fish and aquarium. I have had several disasters in unlit tanks because the problem was too far along to be fixed by the time I could see something was wrong.

-Shane

I agree that for the most part Hypancistrus don't come out in the daytime much...... but there are exceptions. For example my L270's are out a lot..... and they have a lot of light above the tank. Also I had a L404 male that every time I would come in the fish room he would come out and keep a eye on what I was doing. He has stopped doing this now...... I moved his group to a bigger tank and he is my best L404 breeder so he is too busy with the kids and his girls now. A lot has to do with how the tank is setup and if they can feel safe out in the daytime too.

Chuck

Apart from serving as very suitable dithers, adding guppies to a breeding tank could also have another advantage.

Guppies, breeding all the time, secrete a lot of hormones to the water, which might help other fish getting to breed.

Most other dithers don't do this, and those would be better for raising fry.

Bas Pels wrote: ↑04 Jul 2017, 20:05 Apart from serving as very suitable dithers, adding guppies to a breeding tank could also have another advantage.

Guppies, breeding all the time, secrete a lot of hormones to the water, which might help other fish getting to breed.

Most other dithers don't do this, and those would be better for raising fry.

This is the theory of including ancistrus, which breed like guppies, and may secrete hormones to encourage other plecos to breed.