PlanetCatfish.com

I'm looking into getting one or two of these, and I've looked for the information on the site and I can't find anything solid on the minimum tank size requirement. I have two 30 gallon tanks (30" long by 18" tall and 12" wide), a 10 gallon and a 5 gallon but I'm intending to put them in my 30 gallon with 11 Cory, a snail and 2 female Betta (who can be moved to another tank if need be). I have the other 30 gallon I could add them to with two 3 Spot Gourami (soon to be three), and those can be moved to another tank if need be as well. Would the 30 gallon with the Cory be acceptable for either the 052 or 168? I'm going to hook up a small powerhead in whatever tank they go into as well so they'll have the current.

The Cory tank currently has the most cover; a fake tree stump, a fake sunken log, a flower pot and some closely grouped fake plants the Cory all like to camp in. The 3 Spot tank has four live plants and some fake ones. I'm adding more fake plants and possibly some fake or real rocks to allieviate a slight aggression problem with one of my Gourami. It's started to pick on my other Gourami and I want to give them both enough cover to feel secure. The substrate in the Cory tank is all sand and the substrate in the 3 Spot is rocks, rock gravel and sand. Rock on the left end, gravel rock in the middle and sand on the right. I'm also curing a piece of wood to go into one or the other tanks. It's still got a little time to go before the tannins leach out completely.

I'd prefer the 052 though my water's pH is a bit on the high side at the moment (around 8.4) but I'm going to be cutting that to around the lower or mid 7ish area with RO water. The temperature is a steady 74° to 76° in the Cory tank and 78° to 80° in my 3 Spot tank.

My ammonia and nitrites are at zero and I keep up with regular water changes every 2 weeks (20-25%). Nitrates sometimes spike at 40 but no higher and the water borders around 160ppm KH and very low GH which I'm working on raising. The water I have been using is filtered tap water but it obviously has some issues so I' m going to start using R0 water and supplements to regulate it better.

I won't be getting either Plec for at least 2 weeks and that's assuming I luck out and our supplier has them in stock or can get them quickly and ships them. I don't know how hard they are to come by. Some people have said they're hard to get but I've found a few sites that are selling them. Though at a $125 minimum purchase and a $50 shipping fee, I'm going with getting them via my work place where I'm hoping they won't cost more than $25 (which is slightly above the price I've seen them listed at online) and minus the outrageous shipping fees for such a moderately priced fish.

I have a couple L-168s and have found them to be quite elusive. They like a well hidden spot , preferably in or under driftwood. My best guess is that they are omnivoirs as I haven't seen them prowl for food - that I can think.
I did notice some interest in zuccini while in one tank and they must have eaten dry flake/pellet in another as it was pretty much all I fed.

I have noticed that they change color a fair amount depending on the surroundings and the comfortlevel. On a dark bottom while calm and lit up they are beautifully black and white with high contrast, while the stresscolor and when hiding - especially in dark spots they tend to blend into the surroundings and become greyish with little contrast and the stripes fading.
It appears that the fish loses some of the contrasting stripes as it gets older too. One of mine is about 3+ years old (at least that is how long I have had him) and the color is mostly faded with little difference between the black and white.He is about 6" long right now.

They do not seem to have any aggressive temperament at all and prefer to stay hidden most of the time. The shape of the fish would suggest that it comes from fast water and is adapt at squeezing in under logs and rocks.

I have never had any problems with them in my water ( 78-82deg, PH 7.8 GH 12). They were able to hide well from even larger cichlids though I did lose one to some H carpinte 'Escondido' which I have found to be a very aggressive fish.

All and all they seem to be an easy and pretty fish thought they hide a lot. Once you find their spot , you will most likley find them there 99% of the time. When redecorating I have sometimes lost them for months until I find their new spot.

You should be able to find them for $5-15. Try frybabies.com .

Here are pictures of my younger one:

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll look into that site.

The single butterfly in my 55 has been a breeze to keep. The pH is kept 6.6-7.0 with the NO2, NH3, NH4 kept at unreadable levels. Don't know the NO3, but the plants in the tank help keep it under control. The temp is maintained between 78-82 F. There is a large bogwood piece in the tank that serves as cover. Though, truth be told, my butterfly is the most active of all my pl*co's. He is not nearly as nocturnal as the clown or whiptails I keep in other tanks. Zucchini and yellow squash is devoured at all times of the day or night. He also works on the collard greens and sweet potato that I feed, just not as enthusiastically as with the assorted squash's.

I was worried when he was first purchased, though. He wasn't eating at all. Slowly but surely his belly shrunk to a hollow. I was sure I'd lose him. Fortunately, the old spirulina tablet pressed into a veggie trick saved the day. I should have known the store wasn't giving him fresh vegetables and started him on tablets. Anyhow, he's doing great today. I've never seen anything that could be described as aggression at all. About the worst is that the Butterfly has no qualms about shouldering one of his Bristlenose tank mates away from his chosen hidey hole if he was there first. Very peaceful.

Sounds good to me. I'm more worried about my Bettas and the Gourami if it went in there attacking it than it going after them but my girls are pretty laid back and fat. I'm going to try putting them on a diet so hopefully they'll aquire a taste for bloodworms instead of the pellets I feed my Cories and whatever I feed the Pleco.

Hi ,
I've got my L052 for about a year now. He definitely loves driftwood - I have four pieces of driftwood in the tank, but he has his favorite spot. The tank is a high 40 gal, slow filtration, temp 79-80, pH 6.5.
As for the food, what he prefers above everything else is zucchini. I vary his diet (tropical tablets, broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, algae wafers), but his two favorite foods are zucchini and the algae wafers.
Don't freak out (as I first did) if he becomes totally discolored at times - they change colors a lot.
Good luck!

I knew they changed colors during the day/night and depending on their mood so that wouldn't surprise me, though if s/he was constantly changing them then that would be a concern. I'll keep that in mind if I see that happening.

I'm putting more pictures of both species online tonight. L168 is the common one shown above. L168 is more unusual and harder to come by. At around 3-4" one is vertically striped and the other has joined up wavy stripes, the comparative dimensions of head and fins are also different, but it takes an accustomed eye to spot them. Feeding requirements are the same, vegetarian food, tablets and pellets, insect larvae, zooplankton, soft wood.

If they survive the first couple of weeks they seem hardy, but I think losses are high on the way to our tanks.

Jools