PlanetCatfish.com

A while back I picked up an L137 and he is one of my favorites however his fins are not very red atleast nothing like the Cat-elog pics. Do they get the deep red finnage with age? Is there environmental factors? He is about 4.5" SL right now


Here is the Cat-elog pic I'm talking about
Here is mine

I noticed that my butterfly plecos would change color depending on the background. Maybe some green or dark brown may help with coloration. Or maybe feed with food rich in betacarotines?

I've try feeding carrots buy all they did was tear it up but didn't eat it

I notice that the cat-elog does not mention diet. What does your fish like best? Herbavore or omnivore?
-Barry

He is by far the best algae eater I've ever sen. He cleaned my entire 100 gallon and all the decorations of all the algae in less than 24 hours. Since he no longer has any algae he prefers cucumber but will still nibble carnivore pellets and tilapia occasonally

Hi all,
I haven't kept one, but I think they largely feed on wood.

cheers Darrel

I have not maintained this species either, but all other Cochliodon spp I have kept were wood eaters.
-Shane

I am going out on a limb here since I have no experience with this species. However, based on information in this thread and on the site, here is a thought on trying to color up your fish. Alan Repashy makes two gel foods that you could mix and then add some Astaxanthin Powder to the dry ingredients before adding the water.

The first food is Soilent Green which is a great food for algae eaters/Awfuchs feeders. Then use Morning Wood which is intended for Xylivores. The Astaxanthin helps with red/oranges in fish. I am not sure what proportion

Find the Repashy Foods here https://www.store.repashy.com/

Find the Astaxanthin here http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-suppli ... owder.html

This natural source of astaxanthin, derived from a unique strain of the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis. The majority of the carotenoid fraction is astaxanthin, with about 15% of the remaining fraction consisting of canthaxanthin, lutein and beta-carotene.

It would help if somebody more knowledgeable re this fish would comment on this suggestion as I may be off base.

ok cool here is actually a pic I took last night when I put their daily cucumber in

Find the Astaxanthin here http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-suppli ... owder.html

Thank you! You guys are a wonderful and welcome source of info.
-Barry

yes they are

My thought is your ID is off.

some days his fins are redder but what do you think the id might be?

Here are some photos of him feeding tonight

Hi all,

thefredpit wrote: 11 Jan 2018, 03:43 Here are some photos of him feeding tonight

It looks fine in the photos. I think L137 () has blue eyes, so that makes it a probable ID? Some-one else will know.

Have you tried feeding orange fleshed Sweet Potatoes? They contain the same beta-carotenoids as carrots.

cheers Darrel

I've done sweet potatoes before and none of the plecos seemed interested but that's been awhile and I've gotten I've gotten a couple more large plecos that are voracious eaters so I'll try again. One thing that may be affecting his fin color is the tank is a little dim since I have bichirs, eels, and knifefish in the tank. I accomplish this with frogbit and duckweed so the tank has a dim green tint over about 75% of the tank including the area he is usually at

Hi all,

thefredpit wrote: 11 Jan 2018, 16:19 ....... I accomplish this with frogbit and duckweed so the tank has a dim green tint over about 75% of the tank including the area he is usually at

Ideal, I'm a great floating plant fan.

They have Diana Walstad's "aerial advantage" (https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=39714).

cheers Darrel

yeah the problem I'm having at the moment is the larger plecos I added have destroyed all the java moss and are now taking out the frogbit causing the annoying duckweed to take over so you can always tell when i've done anything in the tank because my arms have duckweed all over them