I've picked up a few of these as well, listed at LFS as King Tigers. However, the stripes are thinner and more numerous than my other L-66, yet thicker than L-260. In a tank with L-66, these three hide in tubes all day, while the known L-66 tend to find cover amongst the wood and rocks. Sexes are mi...

My LFS just received a batch of sturisoma that look to be adults,males are bearded, all are about 6" SL, with dark brown eyes. Color is very close to albino ancistrus, that uniform golden tone with pink base. They have no dark body markings. Pretty sure that they are wild-caught, having come fr...

You really need to see them in three dimensions, live, in both light colored bowls and dark ones. However, even the subtle differences in body shape are readily apparent from Barbie's pictures, which are great examples. From the pectoral fins rearward, males tend to a "V" shape, while fema...

Whoa, be leery of store bought produce. Pesticides can really put the hurt on your fish. Shop organic, you don't have to buy that much, and zuchinni (courgette) have much more protein than cucumber. Buy a few, cut them into long wedges and you can cut off most of the seeds, if you buy small ones eve...

Actually, it takes quite a bit of tank space. I do a great deal of plywood tank work, and have built 100 gal rearing tanks which have been divided into ten gallon sections. Spawns are tracked with dry erase labels directly on the rearing compartment. When my F1s were getting to maturity, I grouped t...

I've seen farlowella and sturisoma males adopt a dominant perch in the center of the tank, sometimes even partaking in "king of the hill" squabbles. To get these suckers off of heaters, I raised the drift wood in the center, even piling it up a bit, and added some java fern.

Definitely an outcross, its the reason why we put forth effort, and additional tank space, to track lineage. But is there notation in the F0, F1, etc to designate the F0/F1 offspring? Likewise F1/F2? I'd like to refer to these generations properly. We tend to save the best for breeding, and positive...

Per Shane and Larry, the food supply changes with the rainy season. All sorts of new stuff comes down the pipe when it rains. During a two month dry season, I cut feeding back to every other day, sticking to frozen bloodworm and pellets. After the water change, feeding reverts to once a day, and the...

barbie, Relax...I think you caught the two males in males.jpg. Body shape goes out the winodw when they get a plump as this, since the v-shaped look of the males gets distorted. I would however follow Janne's advice and vent them. Since you're doing comparisons, its pretty easy. Just try not to let ...

I've had success in a 40BR, which is 36"X18", 16" deep, using an AquaClear 500. I would hang the filter off of one end, and route the intake through PVC under the gravel to the opposite end. Then bring the pipe up through the gravel about an inch and add a sponge filter to screen the ...

I've obtained the best results raising five varieties of ancistrus commercially doing the following: 1. Temp to 80F 2. Feed hikari algae wafers in the evening, gradually increase amount until you see leftovers in the morning. 3. Add one large frozen collard green leaf every day, keep two in the tank...

You might try either silver or marble hatchets. Since they are top feeders, they don't hassle the occasional escaped fry. Plus a little leftover flake adds variety to the zebra diet. They liven the tank quite a bit, zooming back and forth in the current as a school. Also, since the lighting requirem...

blazespecv, which shop in MD? If they were small, they may have been mine, if so they are F2's.

My L-177 have topped out at around 6", and they take their own sweet time getting there.

I get good results with Kent "A F Cich lid Chemistry", which raises GH without significantly affecting KH. My tap water is naturally soft, so a bit of GH helps to dramatize the conductivity drop during a rainy cycle. Since my breeding tanks are lightly loaded, and kept pretty clean, little...

Using a hanging hatching trap, solid mesh with an airstone for circulation, I am consistently around 90% survival to an inch for ancistrus, L-066, L260 and L-177. L-046 rates are about 80%, but statistically this is a rougher estimate due to smaller, less frequent spawns. (My L-046 numbers are comin...

Yes, I agree. For rectangular openings, about twice the width, and a little shorter than fish with extended dorsal. Circular openings, between 1.5 and 2 times the width. ALthough, I am always amazed when two squeeze into small tubes, must be a security thing. I try to keep as short as possible in le...

I've had problems with these guys in a small tank such as a 30gal. Primarily with multiple males. You might try putting in four tubes/caves. Even if the dimorphism is not apparent, the males will gravitate to the tubes, and you may be able to pare them down to one male with several females. I did th...

I think that the issue with smooth materials is more one of glossy versus matte. I was using a black PVC that had a glossy finish, which went unused until I roughed it up to knock down the shine. Maybe the glossy finish was unnatural? Dark PVC is definitely preferred over white. I found some pond pl...

For the first few days, I also use zuchinni. For a protein boost, which has improved survival rates, nuke the squash until soft, and dip it in a bit of spirulina powder (organic food store for best price!) Get a light coating to stick to both sides. Then freeze it overnight. This helps tremendously ...

Got to agree with Alan, I've had more than my share of suicides in the lift tube. Now wrap with mesh. If given driftwood, and kept well fed, most of my fish, except the odd panaque, leave the foam alone. For ancistrus, I do use the hydro-pond sponges. They are coarser than the regular hydro-sponge a...

Definitely aereate the algae vat, cyanobacteria is oxygen adverse. In a basement, I use 5100K daylight flourescents, leaving them on 16 hours. If you use a gravel substrate in the vat, diatoms form easily at the gravel line. Partially submerge acrylic strips, below the gravel line. Once coated, slip...

Here in Washington, DC, a multi-acre sized pond has been drained after the bulk of the fish have been stunned and collected. (Pretty amazing what they found!) Another pond, a bit smaller, but still sizable, was treated with a fish-killing poison, then drained and refilled. Why? Individuals had dumpe...

Is 84F appropriate for L-134? There is conflicting info listed for Rio Tapajós, probably due to different locations on the river. I would like to keep these on my hypancistrus rack (84F) as opposed to a cooler (78F) set of tanks. The hypancistrus rack is set up as Rio Xingú biotope for L-046 and L...

A general methodology that is working for us... 1. Remove eggs from the cave two days after spawn and place in a rigid net breeder hanging in the breeding tank. (Gives the male a chance to dispose of infertile eggs.) 2. Add an air stone as surrogate parent 3. Newly hatched "omnivores" are ...

You might say that I am intimately familiar with some of the stock in these shops...

http://www.pvas.com/catfish/welcome.htm
October 14-16 in Laurel, MD

Wouldn't miss it.

I like queen botia both for snail control, and that they are calmer than most loaches and get along well with ple cos. Kuhlis do a great job on cleanup, and are probably the most personable scavenger I have seen. If a fish could be called "happy go lucky" this is the one. Not a species for...

In VA its pretty thin, Pets Etc 512 E Market St, Leesburg, VA 20176 Phone: (703)771-4347 Andy usually stocks four or five varieties, sometimes surprises In MD the best bets, Aquarium Center Randlstwn Plaza Shop Randallstown, MD 21133 (410) 521-4529 Jim carries about ten varieties at any given time, ...

Try Aquarium Center, 410-521-4529

I might have seen them there last week. (I shop around too much!) Randallstown is up near Baltimore, a bit west of the BMore beltway, from NoVa about the same drive time as Camden Yards.

Yeah, Marvin sounds like a good idea, the Mantovani in the fish room is killing me...