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sorry if i’m posting this in the wrong section have only just joined this community and was unable to find a relating topic..

I know that everybody's opinion and insight on this will be different but that's the point.. no one's answer will be wrong nor right it's just what works for each person.. nature will take its course but what is everybody's recommended or what has been your most successful tank turnover/colony ratio for breeding L046? I recently purchased 3x L046 and am now about to purchase a few more from a different breeder just wondering on, what genders to get and how many of each? i currently have 1M 3F.. also the zebs i am getting are 7-8cm

I have always bred my plecos, starting with zebras as my first Hypancistrus to try to spawn. I was pretty successful and went on to work with more Hypans from the Big Bend of the Xingu.

I have always worked from the position that I am not smarter than the fish, The males know where the best caves is, they know who is the best female with which to breed to produce the best offspring. So I always keep then in groups, Money and availability have sometime limited how many I could get.The fewest of any species has been 6 and the most 25. However my usual numbers are 10-15.

The ideal ration is 2m/1fm. this is because the fm can produce eggs about ever 2 weeks but the male who raises them needs about 4 wekks before the kids go free swimming and leave the cave.

That said I have rarely had more than 2 spawning makes in several of my groups but some have also been 3. it seems to be the luck of the draw as to 2 or 3. But I also have read research papers which indicate that in a group of fish most will not be spawning. it is the top of the chain that is doing it. The paper was about the actual genetic diversity that goes on in a larger group of fish.

They should be spawning by 8 cm, imo. Parameters and especially diet are very important for this.

Also. I bought a proven breeding colony of 13 zebras when I began wanting to spawn them. They came with 5 fry. there were supposed to ne 15 kids but the person had to sell them and was not keeping up with the tank properly. So it was only 5. the adults were fine though and they stated to give me spawns two weeks after i got them home.

My other Hypan groups I had to grow some to have them start to spawn. For some this was years as I got them small and they grow slowly.