Adding R/O Water??????

[TheCichlidKid15]

So i have a 15 gallon with some l134 plecos that im looking to breed and have tried pretty much everything under the sun. The LFS down the street from me sells R/O water, i bought the additives your suppose to add to the R/O water, now the question is how much of the 15 gallon water from my tank do I replace? Also, am i suppose to let the new R/O water with the additives sit for a certain amount of time before I put it in the tank? Sorry, idk much about R/O water and feel its the next step i need to take in breeding these plecos. Also does everyone use R/O water to breed most of their plecos? Is it almost like "steroids" for pleco breeding, like an advantage that def works better then the normal way? Sorry again if this sounds ridiculous, I'm just trying to break it down in the most simple terms possible, thank you in advance for your help!

[racoll]

Also does everyone use R/O water to breed most of their plecos? Is it almost like "steroids" for pleco breeding, like an advantage that def works better then the normal way

Quite the opposite. Most plecos seem to breed just fine in almost any type of tapwater. Far more important seems to be patience(!), condition, maturity, food supply, temperature, and tank furniture.

RO water is only really needed to break the tough blackwater species (i.e. not

L134

).

That said, a series of 5% neat RO water changes (no additives) at the start of the breeding season can't hurt. They seem to only breed at certain times of year (search for Apistomaster's posts on the subject).

Bear in mind I'm not an expert. Just repeating what I've read.

Good luck.

[TheCichlidKid15]

thanks!!!!!

[Matt30]

So i have a 15 gallon with some l134 plecos that im looking to breed and have tried pretty much everything under the sun. The LFS down the street from me sells R/O water, i bought the additives your suppose to add to the R/O water, now the question is how much of the 15 gallon water from my tank do I replace? Also, am i suppose to let the new R/O water with the additives sit for a certain amount of time before I put it in the tank? Sorry, idk much about R/O water and feel its the next step i need to take in breeding these plecos. Also does everyone use R/O water to breed most of their plecos? Is it almost like "steroids" for pleco breeding, like an advantage that def works better then the normal way? Sorry again if this sounds ridiculous, I'm just trying to break it down in the most simple terms possible, thank you in advance for your help!

Hi first of all you need to purchase a TDS meter they dont cost much £15-£20,then it all depends on your PPM of your tap water that you are using, if you want to use R/O you shouldnt need additives just use you tap water as a buffer if it's hard enough, I think water quality is more important than the TDS anyway as Peckoltia Compta spawn in anything from 120ppm to 50ppm (from what I have read) I keep mine at around 120ppm-80ppm although I have not had any spawn as mine are to young,as racoll has already said Apistomaster is The Man regarding L134s' hes had hundreds of spawns.

[racoll]

Good advice Matt. It's important to have a TDS meter if mucking around with RO water.

TheCichlidKid15, if your fish aren't breeding, I would expect water conductivity to be one of the least likely causes, but it might be an idea to know how hard is your tapwater is? How about posting some more details of the setup, and folks can offer any further advice ...

(1) how long have you been trying to breed them?
(2) what steps have you taken already?
(3) how old/big are the fish?
(4) what's the m/f ratio?
(5) what's the feeding/cleaning regime?
(6) tankmates?
(7) can you share any photos of the tank and fish?
(8) what are your current parameters (temp, hardness, pH)?

[TheCichlidKid15]

After doing some investigation, my L134's are definitely still to young to breed. But my other group of L100 Plecos, which is 2m/2f, I have in a 15 gallon with a bare bottom tank and about 6 caves of different sizes. I have a powerhead blowing oxygen on the front of the caves. I also have a piece of driftwood in there as well along with a sponge filter from swiss tropical that has a piece of heavy slate/cube about 6 by 6 on the bottom of it. I also have a 6inch air stone in there blowing air bubbles as well. I have the temp at 83 degrees, i have been switching up their food, soilent green repashy, spirulina mix, pleco tablets. My PH is around 7-7.2, one of my females is getting very plump, i can see her literally getting wider, there adults around 4-6inches. I even have a male that sits half way in a cave trying to lure a female in their. I was thinking my next water change to add some R/O water?? I feel like im so close!!!!!! I leave the light off as much as possible also, any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance!!!!!

[TheCichlidKid15]

the boys in their old tank!

[TheCichlidKid15]

some more

[TheCichlidKid15]

another

[TheCichlidKid15]

New tank, sorry about blue light

[racoll]

Looks like you are doing the right things to breed your Ancistrus. One important factor is their identity. How do you know they are

L100

? They could easily be a different species of very similar black-with-white-spots Ancistrus, and many of these come from blackwater rivers, and so may require RO water to breed.

[TheCichlidKid15]

they were sold to me from a reputable dealer in Florida as wild caught L100, i think im gonna try and do a big water change and put maybe 5-10% r/o water in the tank. I also have the blackwater additive from kens that I could put in there as well. Im gonna keep trying until I see some eggs!!!!!!!!!! LOL

[pleco_breeder]

If they're actually L100, you shouldn't need any RO. Heavy feeding and clean water has been the only requirement with mine.

Larry

[TheCichlidKid15]

thank you Larry, what type of heavy feeding are you talking about? i been feeding 2xs a day, pretty decent amounts of food, what about u?

[pleco_breeder]

I originally was feeding kensfish veggie sticks twice a day. They did fairly good on that,and spawned several times, but was having to do a lot of cleaning to keep the water good. I switched to repashy soilent green once a day in April, and it took a lot longer to condition them. However, the number of eggs per spawn went up dramatically. Initial spawns were every 2-3 weeks with 50-60 fry. After the change, it took almost two months for them to spawn again. However, I got 150+ fry from a spawn. My WC female got killed on the next attempt after the change, and I'm still selling fry from that spawn.

I currently have three pair of F-1 I pulled from the group in February. They grow faster than any Ancistrus I've ever kept. The largest of them, appears to be a male, is already slightly longer than 3 inches SL. Still no signs of conditioning, but they're all nearly as large as their parents when I got them. Now I just have to wait on them to mature.

The spawn I'm still selling from has grown slower, but have a lot more competition from their siblings than was provided for the future breeders. Regardless, they average approximately two inches and six months old.

Larry

[TheCichlidKid15]

thank you for the info Larry, im ordering the veggie sticks now, i actually have the repashy soilent green already!

[David R]

Sorry, idk much about R/O water and feel its the next step i need to take in breeding these plecos.

Don't mean to be rude or anything but this sentence really seems to contradict itself. You don't know much about RO water but think that you need it to breed the plecos. Why do you think you need it if you don't know anything about it?????

Too often in this hobby people just seem to want to know what to do without worrying about WHY they should do it. Stop wasting your money on RO water and your time testing the pH, go buy a TDS meter and GH/KH test kits and do some research to learn WHY people sometimes need to use RO water to help breed/keep certain species.


Again, not trying to be rude, but do you actually know what RO stands for and what RO water is?

[TheCichlidKid15]

Maybe that statement was a little to general, i know what R/O water is and what it stands for, just wasn't sure how much should have been used. Someone from the forum contacted me and walked me through what I needed to know. All my water has been tested and measured. And for the record David I will spend my hard earned money on whatever I please, thanks for the concern though!

[David R]

And for the record David I will spend my hard earned money on whatever I please

You are quite welcome to spend your money on what ever you please, I couldn't care less if you [literally or metaphorically] choose to flush it down the drain. Which is exactly what you are doing by spending money on RO water unless you are able to measure your hardness and TDS. You say you weren't sure how much to use, that is why I suggested investing in some way of measuring the mineral content of your water rather than blindly adding more RO water.

You wouldn't buy another heater for your tank just because you think it looks too cold if you had no way of checking the actual temperature...

[TheCichlidKid15]

This comment has no relevance "You wouldn't buy another heater for your tank just because you think it looks too cold if you had no way of checking the actual temperature...", please refrain from commenting on my posts in the future, your negative and arrogant attitude is what deters the younger generation from involving themselves in these forums and asking questions. Have a great day!!!!!!!

[David R]

wow, sorry if you misinterpreted my posts as arrogant, that was certainly not what was intended. The comment about the heater was just a simple analogy to show what you are doing by adding RO water without being able to measure the parameters the RO is changing, sorry if that wasn't evident.

Good luck breeding your fish, and I still stand by my advice that if you're going to start messing with the chemistry of your tap water you need to be able to measure what you are trying to adjust. Take it or leave it, your choice...

[Birger]

Must always keep in mind this is an International forum, statements can come across differently and often English is not a persons first language(not the case here I think).

Generally though, posts/advice is given with good intentions.

Not only should statements be made clear and concisely but should be received with the above in mind.

Okay guys, we appreciate your posts and lets carry on with the original topic.

Birger