Thanks everyone for your response. All of my currently have bristles on their lips (none have them on their forehead yet). Maybe I am just jumping the gun and need to wait a few more months before I can actually sex them.

That picture doesn't give a good view of the females nose

Hello everyone, I've had 5 young L183 for a couple of months now and I have been waiting to be able to sex them. I got them when they were about 2 inches long. At this point all of them had 2 short "bristles" at the tips of their noses. Since then they have all gotten a few more small bris...

I have a young group of 5 L183s that are about 2 inches in length. Most of them are showing small bristles on the tips of their nose. Are these males? I know that females can also have bristles but I am unfamiliar with how much "bristleage" females typically have. If anyone has some other ...

I am considering using a buffer to help stabilize the pH in my tanks. I use RO water but I would like to keep my pH a little lower than that. Does anyone recommend a particular type of buffer? (I'd prefer not to have to mess with peat)

I have a bunch of different plecos that are all too young to sex. I have noticed that some of these plecos have claimed their rights to certain caves (and will even defend it from others). Would it be reasonable to assume that these are probably males? I'm not betting anyone's life on it but I was j...

I just thought I would post an update for anyone who is curious and for future reference. I've had my L183s for just about a week now and they are all doing great. Still a little shy. They are very active at night. My water conditions are: TDS: 138-170 ppm pH: 5.82-6.06 GH: 3-4 dH KH: 1 dH Temp: 82 ...

I wasn't sure where to post this but I think I'm at the right place.

I was wondering if sculpey clay was aquarium safe. I was thinking of making some pleco caves from it and wasn't sure if this would be a good idea.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts on this

I have some common bristlenose and L183 plecos. They are juvies right now but I am hoping to breed them one day (just for the fun of it). What dimensions do the breeding caves need to be... how big does the opening have to be, etc?

I will be getting these guys next week so I don't have any pictures. They are coming from a reputable breeder and they have well defined white seams (i think L183s are the only ones with that)

The conditions in the tank that I want to keep them in are as follows:

TDS: 143 ppm
pH: 6.02
GH: 2-3 dH
KH: 0-1 dH
Temp 78F

Should I try to change any of these?

What are the ideal conditions for L183s

TDS: ?
GH: ?
KH: ?
pH: ? 6.0-7.0
Temp: ?

Also, I know that his pair spawns on the substrate... not on the glass or in a pipe... so that also matches up

yeah looks pretty close to me. My friend has the adults, I will try to get him to send me some pictures.

This is probably going to be tough... anyone know the species of this young whiptail?

Does anyone have any L183s?