L200 Phantom Pleco Breeding

[TetraL200]

Hello all I will go be receiving my L200 Green phantoms today. Took quiet a while to find and acquire 4 of them of larger size, and hopefully after talking to the seller I will get 2 males and 2 females. I hope to post pictures soon after they are settled in. My question is has anyone breed them and what size do they mature to breed. I was told mine will weigh in around 3 1/2 - 4 inches (give or take). I Currently have there tank ready - a 20G Long with power jet for great circulation and water movement/flow as well as high oxygenation. I know most people suggest bigger tank is better, but I am hopping to have them breed so I want them to find companions/mates better. Also they will be the ONLY fish in the tank. I am just looking for tips and fun discussion, advice, or stories of other peoples experience with them.
P.S. I recently acquired an L260 Queen Arabesque I believe a Male and am looking for a female for him about 3" or bigger in size. Thanks all.

[MarcW]

I have bred

L128

which are I assume would need very similar requirements. For a group of 4

L200

I would suggest at least a 40 Breeder with a large amount of filtration.

Hopefully you will receive a female in the group, it took me years to find a female L128 in the UK! I would say they might be of breeding size when they get an inch longer, just focus on getting them settled and feeding well, and provide caves and rock hiding places, then hopefully in around a year they will be ready to breed.

Once they are settled and well fed it will also be a lot easier to sex them, as shipping, stress, lack of food, etc. can make it much harder to notice differences between sexes.

Good luck!

[TetraL200]

It just so happens I had bought a 40 breeder for this exact scenario. Turns out I need to build another stand for it. so until then the 20 will have to do nicely. If they begin to thrive ill have to hurry on that build.
I have a marineland maxi-jet pro 950 as there water movement and aeration. will probably ad another aerator for more air as well as a filter that sucks/removes waste.
in your opinion or possible experience would a 950 be good enough for a 40b?

[MarcW]

I have no experience with Marineland products as I'm based in the UK, but from a quick search it seems like it would provide plenty of circulation.

Make sure you also provide plenty of biological filtration, either a canister filter, hang on back, sponge filter(s), or a combination. To give you an idea, on my tank (approx. 50 US gallons) with 5 L128 which they bred in, I have a Fluval FX5, two 4 inch air driven cube filters, as well as two 475 gallon per hour power heads.

[TetraL200]

I have no experience with Marineland products as I'm based in the UK, but from a quick search it seems like it would provide plenty of circulation.

Make sure you also provide plenty of biological filtration, either a canister filter, hang on back, sponge filter(s), or a combination. To give you an idea, on my tank (approx. 50 US gallons) with 5 L128 which they bred in, I have a Fluval FX5, two 4 inch air driven cube filters, as well as two 475 gallon per hour power heads.

They Have arrived and they are much bigger than thought. 4" or more. will definitely be going to 40G Breeder.
I am going to designate each one by Number of 1, 2, 3, and 4 so people can reference and give opinions on them as well as male or female and so on. hope to see lots of comments!!! thanks in advance

[TetraL200]

Keep checking back I will keep updating! thanks

[TetraL200]

Fish #4 is over 6" !!!, the others are all between 4" and 6". so I am assuming they are at maturity for breeding, they are nice thick fish. a lot wider than I thought but that's fine

[MarcW]

From those pictures I can't see anything which would give an obvious clue to the sexes of the fish.

Often when they are shipped or stressed they may lose odentodes, and defining features.

Before you can get a good idea of the sexes, get them settled in and well fed for a couple of months, then try to get some good pictures from above in a shallow container, then someone here should at least be able to make an educated guess.

Good luck with them, I hope they settle in well and start eating quickly.

[TetraL200]

From those pictures I can't see anything which would give an obvious clue to the sexes of the fish.

Often when they are shipped or stressed they may lose odentodes, and defining features.

Before you can get a good idea of the sexes, get them settled in and well fed for a couple of months, then try to get some good pictures from above in a shallow container, then someone here should at least be able to make an educated guess.

Good luck with them, I hope they settle in well and start eating quickly.

thanks very much! Do they usually not eat right away and osis that normal? They arent eating at the moment. Thanks!

[MarcW]

When I first got my L128, despite the store saying they were eating, it was a while before they ate in my tank.

I think it's because I was feeding them different foods than the store. I would start off with something you can leave in for a while without spoiling the water, that you will be able to see if they have eaten the next morning. E.g. zucchini or sweet potato weighed down with a tea spoon or similar. Another good food would be the repashy gel mixes. Something like soilent green, fruut-luups, or bottom scratcher.

Don't be disheartened if they don't seem to eat at first, keep offering food in the evenings, leave it in overnight, then replace the next evening. Usually after 4 days or so you will see evidence of them eating once they realise it's food. With mine it was scrapes of zucchini skin missing at first.

Hope this helps.

[TetraL200]

When I first got my L128, despite the store saying they were eating, it was a while before they ate in my tank.

I think it's because I was feeding them different foods than the store. I would start off with something you can leave in for a while without spoiling the water, that you will be able to see if they have eaten the next morning. E.g. zucchini or sweet potato weighed down with a tea spoon or similar. Another good food would be the repashy gel mixes. Something like soilent green, fruut-luups, or bottom scratcher.

Don't be disheartened if they don't seem to eat at first, keep offering food in the evenings, leave it in overnight, then replace the next evening. Usually after 4 days or so you will see evidence of them eating once they realise it's food. With mine it was scrapes of zucchini skin missing at first.

Hope this helps.

Hello again, they have recently been moved to there new 40 gallon breeder tank. But this mornkng when i looked i saw one in the tube and the other pushing and wiggling on it (As though it was rubbing on it face first.) I thought maybe they are breeding? Since they were doing okay. But then i left for the day to come home to see that the one that was in the tube had lost alot of his color from the other either sucking on him or rubbing? Has this been seen before what is it.?
Will his nice green color come back? Thanks

[MarcW]

If that fish is female, it is common during spawning or an attempt at it, for the male to bully or hold the female in place, leading to marks like this.

I have seen it plenty of times in several species, looking like the first picture, but not to the extent of the other pictures.

My best guess is that the fish with the loss of colour is a female, but wasn't ready to spawn, leading to the male encouraging her to spawn more aggressively than usual.

Keep an eye on the fish, I wouldn't take any action yet, it should start to return to normal colouration in the next few days, but will take a while maybe 2 weeks? to return to normal, providing it doesn't get trapped in a cave again!

[MarcW]

Just looking at the pictures again, the fish doesn't look female to me, but that's a guess!

If it is male, a more dominant male may have been trying to claim the best cave in the tank, which would also explain the injuries.

[TetraL200]

Just looking at the pictures again, the fish doesn't look female to me, but that's a guess!

If it is male, a more dominant male may have been trying to claim the best cave in the tank, which would also explain the injuries.

Thanks, they were in a 2 inch pipe that is about 5 inchs deep. I have since removed it and put in 3 inch wider black cups. That are about 6- 7 inchs deep. Much bigger. Hopfully that helps. Thanks very much. I also took your advice and went to a canister filter. Cascade 100p elite. Hopfully this is good aeration. What is your ideal temperature for spawning?

[MarcW]

I keep my

L128

at about 82F, although when they bred for me I was away for just over a week during the summer, I missed a water change and the temperature went up to somewhere around 88-90F.

I would say that is too hot for them long term, but it could have been a trigger for them to breed, my main concern would be keeping oxygen levels up.

As

L200

are likely from further upstream their suggested temperature range is lower, 77F is the top end of the recommended range for them, I suspect that being warmer than this for a short time (a few days), is unlikely to do much harm.

For now I would focus on getting them settled, maybe provide a few more caves, I always aim for more caves than fish, of varying sizes until I'm familiar with the size they like. That should help you avoid any serious conflict, as they'll all have somewhere to hide.