Setting Up A Breeding Tank. Which Plecs Though?

[st24rsap]

I am currently in the process of re-arranging my 3 tanks so i have a 100L tank spare which i plan on using to try breeding plecs.

I have been doing some research on smaller plecs and have come up with a short list of species i would like to try and breed, just wondering if anyone has any advice, tips or pointers on breeding any of the below

L015 - Candy Striped Plec
L066 - King Tiger Plec
L134 - Leopard Frog Plec
L260 - Queen Arabesque Plec

 

[st24rsap]

if anyone has any suggestions for other small plec species to try then id be happy to hear them please

 

[Colin_T]

Zebra peckoltia, black & white striped, quite nice to look at.

 

[st24rsap]

do you mean these

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=168

id love to give them a go but they seem rarer than gold dust

 

[st24rsap]

after doing some more research i think i have decided on L066 - King Tiger Plec

 

[smithrc]

If you get a choice between L066 or L260's I'd go for the queens over the kings. - just my personal preferance though

If you have the cash - Zebras (Hypancistrus) are actually not that hard to come by but at £100 a piece at about 1" - a group to breed will cost say £500 and take 18 months more to get to a breeding age... and ideally you would want to source 2 or 3 breeders to mix up blood lines

 

[st24rsap]

If you get a choice between L066 or L260's I'd go for the queens over the kings. - just my personal preferance though

If you have the cash - Zebras (Hypancistrus) are actually not that hard to come by but at £100 a piece at about 1" - a group to breed will cost say £500 and take 18 months more to get to a breeding age... and ideally you would want to source 2 or 3 breeders to mix up blood lines

i can get both the L066 and L260's but reading up the L260 seem to be more difficult to breed and as this is my first attempt something a bit less dificult would be more suited i think

i noticed some Zebras on ebay for £100 each, think they are a bit out of my league both price wise and experiance wise at the moment, but if im successfull with this attemt i may consider them in the future

 

[smithrc]

Both the 66's and 260s will be very similar to breed - both are Hypacistrus (same as zebras) with very similar food needs and and both will require the same sort of environment eg temp and high flow...

We stared with L129's to "practice" before getting the zebras... we never got them to breed in the end (they were very young when we got them and I was rushing them really)

If your going for a species based tank, zebras are not any more difficult to keep than other fancy plecs. Just more costly!

If you can sorce some, try to get tank bred fish - You will see them more and apparently they will breed easier in an aquarium (makes sense really)

 

[st24rsap]

Both the 66's and 260s will be very similar to breed - both are Hypacistrus (same as zebras) with very similar food needs and and both will require the same sort of environment eg temp and high flow...

We stared with L129's to "practice" before getting the zebras... we never got them to breed in the end (they were very young when we got them and I was rushing them really)

If your going for a species based tank, zebras are not any more difficult to keep than other fancy plecs. Just more costly!

If you can sorce some, try to get tank bred fish - You will see them more and apparently they will breed easier in an aquarium (makes sense really)

i shall keep my eyes open for either the 066 of 260's then, thats when my third tank is cycled to enable me to do a species only plec tank

after spending a small fortune lately on setting up my 3 tanks i think i will have to give the costly zebras a miss for the moment untill finances are a bit better. have you had any luck breeding your zebras then

 

[scouse_andy]

What kind of pH would you need to breed these hypancistrus (L260 / L66) are they particularly fussy?

Mine stays constant at 7.8 and no matter how much bogwood I add it just won't lower - hard as nails I think.

I assume you may well need neutral to slightly soft.

Could this be why my BN pair are not producing any fry when everybody else's are breeding like rabbits?

 

[st24rsap]

What kind of pH would you need to breed these hypancistrus (L260 / L66) are they particularly fussy?

Mine stays constant at 7.8 and no matter how much bogwood I add it just won't lower - hard as nails I think.

I assume you may well need neutral to slightly soft.

Could this be why my BN pair are not producing any fry when everybody else's are breeding like rabbits?

both require ph between 6.5 - 7.5 from what i have read

 

[xingumike]

In a 100 litre tank i would go for L260 over L066 for the reason that sexually mature L260 is smaller then L066 and so a colony would fit better in that tank.

 

[st24rsap]

good point

Planetcatfish states the L066 max size is 4.7" and the L260 is only 3.5. The ph range on the L260 is also slightly higher, going by my other tanks that are all between 7.2 & 7.6 the water would also be better suited to the Queen Arabesque Pleco

 

[st24rsap]

slight change of plans, well not really ....... slight change of fish

popped into one of my local fish stores today and they had a tank listed as L134 Imperial plecs, straight away i new they wernt zebra's and when i originally started looking for a colony of plecs i wanted L134 Leopard Frog plecs and these looked just like them and at the price they were advertised at i couldnt say no so had to get them, fingers crossed they are L134's and i havnt made another mistake

anyway so now i have a group of 6 (hopefully) L134 leopard frog plecs

any id confirmations would be apreciated, there colours arent great..... they were really bright untill they were caught in the shop and instantly lost there colouration

 

[smithrc]

hmmm... were they bright yellow and black?

I'm tempted to say they look like "butterfly Plecs" L168 or L52 I think

Get some pics side on and coloured up - side on will quickly rule out my possible ID as they are very flat looking and L134's arnt