I have two big prolems with Plos one in terms of their review policies. First, Plos one is not in favor of reviewer anonimity. I find that a big problem. Second, they allow authors to exclude specific reviewers. These are the policies, as stated on the Plos one site which lead me to have formed my o...

I had a quick read of the link. I did not give it the sort of read it would take to do a reasonable critique. However, I quicly saw a few things I found hard to accept. If another researcher did the same study, I wonder how closely the list of papers selected would match between he two selecters. My...

It would be nice if it was this simple. However, there is always more than meets the eye in these discussions, and everybody has their own axe to grind. The conflict I see is how do readers know what in open access is quality information and what in open access is bad science. I am a bit of a nut re...

Zebra plecos. I have gotten about 50 spawns from the colony between 2006 and late 2010. I have heard back from two people that they have gotten F2s from my F1s which originate from a wild group of 13. My current take is there are now enough folks throughout the world spawning these fish to prevent t...

I appreciate the replies. But I am still a bit confused. The term used was "it is important to feed these out-and-out vegetarians several times per day (at least twice) with a diet consisting predominantly of vegetable food". Now I realize that even vegetarians need protein in some form. T...

I was on a general fish forum where I ran across a thread on L018 (now Baryancistrus xanthellus) and L081. I quoted the following from the Back to Nature Guide to L-Number Catfish: These very highly specialized Aufwuchs-feeders include, for example, the popular Baryancistrus species, Chaetostoma, an...

I had a number of unsexed L450 and H. contradens and some lovely huge corkscrew vals that I sent down to the recent Catfish Convention to be sold by Rachel aka msjinkzd. Those unsold she took back to her facility to be sold from there. They are priced at about $30 each. The 450s are F2s from mixed p...

I have seen a few triple red cacs, not hugely bigger than rummy nose, eat a spawn of close to 75 bn in about 48 hours or less. That said, zebra fry are master hiders. My first fry catching expedition into my 30 gal breeder tank )36x12x13 inch)yielded abut 56 fry. It was almost impossible to catch si...

I am curious regarding the zebras. Did you actually collect them your self? If so can you indicate at what depths and what sort of numbers you spotted while collecting them. Thanks.

I have read that thread, some lovely pictures. But I see no zebra in that one picture mentioned. It was labelled and there was no mention of a zebra (or zebra tail) in the picture caption. Further, neither of the two pictures of zebras I did see would indicate where the fish were actually caught or ...

The only person I have ever heard speak about zebras in the wild and who has also gone down with the divers who collect them gave a totally different description. Here are a few of the salient points he made in his presentation: 1. Zebras live deep in fast flowing water. 2. There is no light there, ...

Fishermen and their families approach the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam construction site during a protest near Altamira Some 50 fishermen, who claim that the construction of a temporary levee to change the river's course is ruining their fishing grounds, are protesting by navigating their boats dai...

Very few zebra keepers keep them in community tanks for all the reasons listed above and more. Nothing like putting an inexpensive fish like a zebra pleco in a tank with those really costly and hard to get cories, guppies, bn and cockatoos. I mean who would want to risk having a zebra give an illnes...

This is a pet topic of mine and I have been researching it heavily for the past couple of years. While a lot of the links offered above are interesting (and I have read most of them), you will find much better information via Google Scholar. http://www.google.com/schhp?hl=en Try using the following ...

I can only offer you the following http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=32810

If I sound like the eternal pessimist on this topic, its because I am BRASILIA | Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:34pm EDT- (Reuters) - A Brazilian judge said on Monday construction could resume on the controversial $13 billion Belo Monte dam in the Amazon, alleviating concerns that key work would not be done ah...

I thought about this idea in the past and concluded that one of the things that likely attracts the plecos to caves is the fact that they are dark. Further, most fish tend to react defensively to movement, they don't wait to ID the threat, they bolt when they see movement. So a clear cave might not ...

Well not to change the topic of this thread, but since it has been mentioned...

He could have said he had bear bottom tanks

I am sorry but I do not agree. My experience, which I have confirmed with others, is that the Alpha male is often not the largest. If you are going to work with trios or pairs I highly doubt it matters how you split them up. On the other hand fighting can cause damage and deaths which are not necess...

I am sorry, but what I see is a tank inappropriately set up and stocked. I see a tank that will merely cause fighting, not a group environment and the establishment of a hierarchy.

Please give these fish a bigger tank and a lot more cover.

Saul- my offer from last night in chat still stands. Happy to help you out :-) I have never believed that 98 was not a 46 variant, but I am neither an ichthyologist nor a geneticist. Just a hunchologist. I love reading topics like this one, but I disbelieve almost everything I read in terms of IDs. ...

I actually posted that link because I felt it supported my contentions in the paste year or two that the eradication of species would happen long before the dam was completed. I suggested the initial phases of dam construction would throw so much crap into the river that the fish would be at risk lo...

This just about says it all

http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0418-hanc ... hotos.html

Well if I were to try having them grow together I would think I would want to separate them at about 2 inches or so. Since I have never spawned the 260s, I can't comment on how they behave at various stages of growth. But I have noticed that zebras follow a progression from free swimming to breeding...

Barb- a gent we know in MI got a spawn from his 19 year old male least year.

I have a feeling the little male guys will spawn as long as they live? I am not sure that females will continue to produce eggs for that long, however.

You can combine them or keep them separate as long as you understand that each way will have different results. Groups always develop a pecking order. It can take many months to get this done. If you add a new fish or fishes to and established group you break the pecking order. So it must be worked ...

I met Mark and Hans. His presentation Friday evening on The Rio Xingu and its Loricariidae was thoroughly enjoyable and informative. I was so impressed I also attended his presentation the next day on Fishes of the Sulawesi a topic I have almost 0 knowledge about. It too was pretty interesting. I wo...

I am going partially. I plan to be there for Hans-Georg Evers presentation Friday evening and back again for the Tony Terceira Photography Workshop on Saturday afternoon. In there somewhere I will spend a bit of time in the vendor room.

I am about a 75 minute drive and am not staying at the hotel.

Lets see- put $10-$15 worth of tetras in with what- about $500-$600 worth of zebras. One of those tetras has a disease or parasite etc. and the headline reads "$2.00 fish kills $100.00s" Its OK, however, because the Xingu will always be full of zebras.......... I used to have what I called...

I have had my zebras produce over 500 eggs and raised about 400 fry over a 4+ year period. The 13 parents are all wc and I got them from a gent (via Barbie) who acquired them from several sources. In total I have have gotten fewer than 5 snubbers. I think this argues strongly against the genetic the...