L600 Breeding and Fry

[PseudaSmart]

I have been using Planet Catfish as a reference site for several years and it has finally paid off. I bought 6 L600's 2 years ago when they were 4-6". They are now 7-12". After several attempts they finally had fry. The main problem is the others in the group try to take over the one cave and appear to eat the eggs and fry. What is the success rate of hatching the eggs in a separate tank?

The colony is in a 300gal tank with 6 other caves, cherry barbs for dither fish, live plants, and 40-50lbs of wood to cover the caves and split up the tank.


Photo of fry

Photo of adult last year

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Thanks for the read and any suggestions as this is my first post!

[DJ-don]

What a great way to post up your first post!!
Welcome to Planet Catfish Forums mate


Well done mate!
After some thought maybe you could steel the fry when they are still in the cave, just when they are about to come out and chase away the male and then put them in a seperate tank with the same tank water.

or some people say just as soon as you see the male and eggs, take the male and the cave and the eggs, and add them in a different tank with the same water and let the father do his thing in privacy

[dconnors]

What are your water parameters? And how big are your caves? If you don't mind me asking, of course.

[Linus_Cello]

Congrats on your L600.
I assume you've seen the article in Shane's World?
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... 3C%2Fem%3E

I'm setting up a tank (75 g) for my L114/600s, and would love to see what your tank looks like for ideas on arranging driftwood/decorating. What plants are you using? It seems that the only plants that works with my plecs are Java fern. And what are the other fish you have in the tank besides barbs? I'm thinking of Congo tetras for my dithers, and maybe some elephant nose fish.

[PseudaSmart]

I will try to answer the questions as best as possible
Tank Conditions for my 6 L600’s
Size 300gal stock tub Temperature 81deg Ph 6.8
Lighting: 2 48" T-5 HO full spectrum bulbs
Filtration: Rainbow cartridge system with 2 mechanical filters, 1st 100 micron, 2nd 20 micron, and a
25Watt UV sterilizer. This goes into a wet/dry filter with 5 gallons of bio balls.
Circulation: Koralia-4 @1200gph
Water Hardness:
In Tank 350 – 675 micro Siemens (not true hardness, used to determine how clean the tank is)
100 Gal water changes - 250 micro Siemens
Top off – pure RO water
Plants: Java Fern, Wisteria, Duck weed, water sprite, 2 Elephant ears.
Tank mates: Cherry barbs and 20 ABN’s (grow out tank)

Cave Size – Good Luck!!
I tried almost 14 cave sizes before a small pair used one I was sure would not work. The sizes mentioned in the article from Briton were WAY TOO SMALL as my group is larger. I can tell you 2” is too small and I have never seen any use the 4” caves. I would suggest a size where they can have their fins about 50% compressed so they cannot be dragged out by a tank mate. I do agree that a neck in the cave is critical.

Sorry for the late reply, I just got back from my 4th trip to Brazil and I am in the midst of getting my tanks caught back up. The fry were a nice surprise after being gone for almost two weeks. (Big kudos to my wife while I was gone!)

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[dconnors]

Wow! That is really awesome! Thanks for answering my questions and especially posting the pics. When you would like to sell some fry let me know, as I am in Michigan as well and could probably pick them up. Again, congrats on the awesome spawn!

[Cristoffer Forssander]

Congrats!

What was the size of the fish who was breeding?

Cristoffer

[Janne]

They are L114 P. cf. leopardus, L600 and LDA07 is the same species P. leopardus and lack spots on their head and also they have a more "green" base colour.

Janne

[Cristoffer Forssander]

They are L114 P. cf. leopardus, L600 and LDA07 is the same species P. leopardus and lack spots on their head and also they have a more "green" base colour.

Janne

Janne
Has it been proven that L600 and L114 are the same species and that they are just geografic differences? Do they look at the genetics between L114 and L600?
If so, they perhaps sould be labeld under the same name... but perhaps, still with different L-numbers.

Cheers
Cristoffer

[Janne]

L114 and L600 are different locations and they look different... if they are the same species or not for the science I have not a clue but for me they are 2 different species even if they only have 1 name, let see if we can make it more complicated this autum introducing another new P. cf. sp. aff. leopardus ;)

Janne

[Borbi]

Hi Janne,

..we already have!
With P. sp. "L 427" from the Uatuma area (Rio Jatapu, to be precise) we now have another Pseudacanthicus, that (at least as a juvenile) is similar to P. sp. "L 114" and P. leopardus.
http://www.l-welse.com/reviewpost/showp ... 1249925520

Unfortunately, still waiting for them to appear in the trade..

Cheers, Sandor

[Janne]

Sandor,

I ment in the trade... not just Ingos's little nice find ;)
And when we start... how knows if we will find only one new... hehe

Janne

[PseudaSmart]

The male that was in the cave was about 8". The other male is 12".

[vaine111]

Was a pleasure talking to you up at Fantastic Fins today.
Nice setup you have, looks really great for some breeding plecos.
I have to ask though... What is the diet consisting of?
Thanks,
Aaron

[PseudaSmart]

Aaron,

It was nice to meet you as well. It is good to finf people with similar interests, such as on this website. As far as food they only seem to like Massivore pellets, carnivore pellets, and frozen krill. They seem to ignore veggies, blood worms, and silversides. I gauge the amount I feed by seeing if there is any left in the morning. I also keep track by using a scale to chart increases. Talk with you again.
Jim