LDA33 SnowBall Successful Breeding

[Chouin]

Hello,
I had the chance today to go visit a friend that was successful with the breeding of his LDA33 Snowball pleco !
Since we don't see often pleco of this genus breed, I thought it would be good info to post on this forum.

He bought this group of LDA33 approx. 2 years ago, they were approx. 5-6 cm.
One of them grew faster and is now approx. 14-15cm, they others are between 8-12cm.

They live in a 38 gallons tank (140 liters) :
7 LDA33, 4-5 L144 Blue eyes long fins, lots of red cherry shrimps
Temperature at 82F (28C)
pH between 7.2-7.4
Internal filter with sponge, power head for current near the bottom
Water change once a week (don't remember the %, sorry)
They are feed a variety of flakes and pellets, sometime zucchini

The male is approx. 10cm and the female a bit smaller, almost same size.
They breed in a DIY triangular shaped cave.

He was able to save 12 babies, they are now approx. 10mm, pretty cute!!
For now they are in a small breeding box.

He is (or was) also breeding : L46, L114, L129, L134, L144, L174, L201.
His Sultan L264 have laid eggs a couple times, but are always eathing them !

Thanks for Looking !

[bekateen]

Very cool and congratulations to your friend! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers, Eric

[MarcW]

Great news, thanks for sharing, they are all really nice looking fish.

[Jobro]

I don't like being a party pooper, but I am very sure, that there are two different species in your friends tank.

Your friend spawned Hypancistrus Contradens. He did not spawn the LDA33. Correct me if I am wrong, but I would bet my ass that the hairy male on Picture one is H. Contradens. The fish on the last picture are indeed LDA33 but they are in no way ready to reproduce, yet. LDA33 with 10cm will never be that hairy. The dad and the fry look exactly like my H. Contradens.

[Acanthicus]

Hi

I guess Jo can keep his ass, thats two species in there and the juvies look like Hypancistrus.

[Chouin]

Ok, that's good to know! Thanks for your inputs.
My friend is also following this post, he will take a look at them.
What's weird, they were received all together, all identified by the exporter in Brazil as LDA33.

[Jobro]

There is no doubt these are 2 different species.

How they got mixed up, we might never find out though. Imagine, if your friend could look at these fish for 2 years without noticing a difference, it is very plausible that an exporter might just make the same mistake or even knowingly restocked his supply of LDA33 with any similiar looking fish, just to to be able to ship one more order and earn some money.

I would give the advise, that this tank is not big enough to house a breeding group of Baryancistrus. They are big, territorial fish and the reason why one grew so much faster than the other is probably due to the small tank.