Breeding Clown Pleco's?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

A couple of days ago i went on a kinda fish shopping spree and went and got myself 4 more clown pleco's, making a total of 6 in my main 125gal tank now. All of my clown plecos are still pretty small at 1-2inches long each, but as they mature and reach their maximum adult size, i would like to have a go at breeding them.
I was reading the planetcatfish profile on clown plecos for breeding them, but it kinda seems like a not very indepth article on clown plec breeding and i would like to know more. Some questions i have so far are;

a. The planetcatfish article says "males grow elongated interopercular odontodes during the breeding season. Males develop noticeable odontodes along the dorsum as well" and that odontodes are "Bristlelike structures on the surface of certain catfishes".
I'm confused as to what exactly these odonotodes look like/what i should be looking for in my clown plecos? Does anyone have any pics?
b. How exactly do i create dry season conditions in a fish tank?
c. Has anyone else here attempted to breed clown plecos, whether successfully or unsuccessfully?

The planetcatfish profile for clown plecos;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=734

Thanks for your time, any advice/info is much appreiciated .

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Well, I can help you with your second question.

Lower your tank level to around half its current level, and cut down on the amount of times weekly you feed. Unfortunately though, someone else will have to help with the other questions as I have never looked into breeding them myself.

 

[Darkstar]

Odontodes are simply the long whiskers males tend to have around the gills area and on the pectoral fins.

here's and example showing odontodes:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=2169

In order to recreate a dry and wet season I normally don't bother with a water change for a couple of weeks, letting some water evaporate and then perform daily waterchange of 30-40% for a week to simulate the rainy season.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well, I can help you with your second question.

Lower your tank level to around half its current level, and cut down on the amount of times weekly you feed. Unfortunately though, someone else will have to help with the other questions as I have never looked into breeding them myself.

Cool thanks for the info , should i change the temp or take out the heater or anything like that as well?

Odontodes are simply the long whiskers males tend to have around the gills area and on the pectoral fins.

here's and example showing odontodes:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=2169

In order to recreate a dry and wet season I normally don't bother with a water change for a couple of weeks, letting some water evaporate and then perform daily waterchange of 30-40% for a week to simulate the rainy season.

Thanks for the pic , would not doing a water change for a couple of weeks be bad for the fish in any way?

It seems there are two methods now. So should i either;
a. Not do a water change for a couple of weeks/month or so, followed up by a series of water changes or;
b. Lower tank water level for a couples of weeks/month or so (should i do water changes during this time as normal?), followed up by a series of water changes.

Do both of these methods work as well as each other?

 

[Darkstar]

Thanks for the pic , would not doing a water change for a couple of weeks be bad for the fish in any way?

It seems there are two methods now. So should i either;
a. Not do a water change for a couple of weeks/month or so, followed up by a series of water changes or;
b. Lower tank water level for a couples of weeks/month or so (should i do water changes during this time as normal?), followed up by a series of water changes.

Do both of these methods work as well as each other?

Well I can get away without doing a waterchange for a couple of weeks (certianly not months), obviously whether you an or not depends on your filtration, stocking levels, tank size etc etc. I suggest you test you water regularly to make sure...

In answer to your question, both a and b are pretty much the same process just different methods to reach the same goal. Both require water to evaporate/be removed manually in order to raise the hardness etc and then new colder, softer water is added in order to replcate the rainy season.

Personally i would spend a month or so fattening them up as I think that plays as much of a role in spawning as the replicating the rainy season...then as long as you have everything else in order it shouldn't be too much of a problem imo.


Having said all that I've read numerous reports from people who've tried and tried to get their plecs to spawn and failed, only to have success when they've left them alone for two three weeks..not having performed any waterchanges.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hmm if both methods are pretty much the same, i think i'll kinda combine the both of them (lowering water level a bit, but also not doing water changes for 2-3weeks to help evaporate water off a bit- after that i do lotsa small regular daily water changes over the following week) since i can't lower the water level too much in my tanks since the main filters in them are actually glued onto the tank sides (i can still lower or raise the water level about 7inches though with the filters turned on).

Later this year as the weather continues to warm up, i'm going to be moving my goldfish out into my new pond, leaving their old 125gal empty apart from a 10-11inch long common pleco in there.
The only decor in the goldfish tank is fine white silica sand for a substrate and a load of massive peices of driftwood/bogwood/mopani wood (one peice in particular is over 3ft long, the other main peice 3ft long, with quite a few smaller peices of wood in the tank). I'm going to add some more mopani wood to the tank to improve the variety of wood in the tank once the goldfish are moved out and i'll start planting the tank up a little bit (i want to have the plants i put in there to grow on the wood and not in the substrate), hopefully with the result that the tank will be turned into clown pleco heaven .
I will also probably add even more clown plecos since 6 is not a lot for such a large tank- after the goldfish are gone, i may use it as a goldfish/koi quarentine tank for a month (not certain on this yet, but its posible, although not probable yet), but either way the work on creating an ideal clown pleco heaven habitat will begin soon once the goldfish are moved out .
And once that is acheived, i will start on trying to breed the clown pleco's (i'm hoping the current ones i have are at least almost mature enough for that by the time this is started, after veiwing your pic i think my oldest and original clown pleco which i've had for quite a while now could be a male) .

 

[Darkstar]

Here's a couple of quick links which may be helpful:

http/www.plecofanatics.com/forum/showthr...t=breeding+l104

http/www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtop...e8c8f70bec094ea