ID help, please. What did I buy - L201, contradens, or other?

[b.reder]

How many can you safely house in a 35 gallon tank?

[bekateen]

I don't know. I have 7 in a 20 gal long and I bet I could raise that to 10 fish safely at their current size, maybe more. But I wouldn't want to risk it as they grow - I read they get about 4" long TL.

[bekateen]

L201 UPDATE:

This morning I woke to find this. It's the first time I've ever found my L201 trapping. Let's see if they can get the job done!

Cheers, Eric

[Kenneth Wong]

Looks very promising.

[bekateen]

Thanks Kenneth. I hope so, but I have reason to doubt. After doing a "head count" in the tank, it's clear the fish trapped inside is one of my recently acquired L201 from Aquarium Glaser. They are much smaller than my older fish and I think they are too young to spawn. So maybe the older larger male is eager, but I don't know if the younger female is ready. If she is, that's terrific. If she's not, I won't be surprised.

Cheers, Eric

[Jobro]

Best luck with the spawning, Eric.

Seems to be the Contradens time. My Pair got me some fry just 1.5 weeks ago while I was on vacation in Spain

My female is enormous, but I only got about 10 youngsters from her. She is still very fat, so I am expecting some more soon.

H. Contradens Fry

[bekateen]

Thanks Johannes, and congratulations on your contradens. Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be a "no go" this time. The male trapped the other L201 in his cave for at least 17 hours, but this morning she was gone and he had no eggs.

The nice thing is that he has discovered how to trap a female. And like your contradens, my females are fat as pigs right now (okay, they always are, but I'm not judging them. ). So hopefully next time the male will pick a mature female and they'll get it done right.

Cheers, Eric

[Jobro]

You should try daily waterchanges of 30-50% for 4-7 days. This is what I did before I left for vacation and it triggered their first spawn and since the fry had already hatched when I came back after 7 days, they must have spawned right after the waterchanges (and not just because I was finally leaving them alone for once )

haha, yeah some plecos are real pigs

[bekateen]

And more good news: Last night I was able to find the fish that was trapped in the cave. Indeed it was one of the smaller specimens, but it was definitely female: It had the same swollen region around its genital papillae that my larger females have, and just like I've seen on my Panaqolus maccus, P. albivermis and L397. So even if she's small, it's great to confirm that she is a she, and that she's getting into condition.

I fed them a big serving of minced shrimp last night (normally I feed them whole shrimp). They were out and about this morning and most of the shrimp was gone. They seemed to eat the minced shrimp more readily than whole (I may make a habit of mincing the shrimp as long as it doesn't result in overeating meat leading to bloat).

Regarding their extra activity... Maybe it's the total eclipse. Maybe it's the shrimp. But hopefully it gets them going.

Will do more intense water changes as time permits. I'm swamped at work right now, so can't do too much. /

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Finally, they spawned!

The male is one of my original four fish. The female is one of the individuals imported from Aquarium Glaser in Germany.

For those of you who've followed this thread from the start, the two females I bought in my original group have grown bulkier and may well indeed be

Hypancistrus contradens

instead of

L201

big spot. Support for this theory is that my males, purchased at the same time as the bulky females, have never shown much interest in the bulky females. But within months of getting the new female L201 big spots from Aquarium Glaser, both my original males got their games on and started trapping this same female at one time or another. I've probably seen her trapped, sometimes for 2-3 days at a time (maybe more), about 6 or more times since last summer.

Needless to say, I'm very happy. This is my first successful Hypancistrus spawn.

Let's just hope dad, as a new, first-time dad, doesn't kick his eggs out or eat them. I'm going to leave him alone and give him some privacy so I don't bother him.

Good luck, little guy!
Cheers, Eric

Direct link to YouTube video: Hypancistrus sp. L201 big spot spawned!

[Jobro]

Congrats Eric!

I hope the eggs will make it till hatching!

[bekateen]

Here he is. Eggs under right pectoral.

[nabulus]

Very nice! Congratulations Eric!

[bekateen]

I see wrigglers!

[bekateen]

Oh my gosh. One male is still nursing his baby wrigglers that are almost done with their yolk, and now the same female has gone and spawned again (about 10 days later) with my other male from my original purchase! Yay! Here is the second male with eggs visible under his right pectoral fin.

Cheers, Eric

[Fundulopanchax76]

Horny female !

[bekateen]

Today I pulled 20 6-day-old fry from the first spawn and transferred them to a fry basket.

In the meantime, the other dad is guarding what looks like a really big clutch of eggs.

[bekateen]

Hypancistrus sp. L201 big spot - Two Spawns in Two Weeks!

[Jobro]

Congrats Eric

With regards to our currend L201/Contradens/whatever discussion, can you give us a ballpark of the current size of your breeding specimen?

[bekateen]

With regards to our currend L201/Contradens/whatever discussion, can you give us a ballpark of the current size of your breeding specimen?

Thanks.

It'll be a bit of a challenge to get the adults out of the tank (hiding in their caves). But when I'm able to get measurements, I will update you.

Cheers, Eric

[nabulus]

Eric, you need more tanks!

[bekateen]

Eric, you need more tanks!

Ha! Ke, you're absolutely right.

Currently, I have about 37

L201

fry in the fry basket. In another tank I have an unknown number of

Hypancistrus debilittera

fry which are already pretty old (I can't see yolk on them), and at the same time, this dad (with kids in his cave) has been trapping a female for three straight days nonstop. Between dad's and mom's bodies, I can't get the fry out of their cave! And that doesn't count the 30+

Panaqolus maccus

F2 fry I have in the tank with my

Ancistrus sp`rio_ucayali`

.

I did just set up a new tank last week when I picked up the H. zebra. But it's just a temporary 10 gal tank until I can figure out where to put them permanently.

I need to get rid of some fish. Maybe March 3rd?

Cheers, Eric

[Linus_Cello]

I need to get rid of some fish. Maybe March 3rd?

Why? BFD?

[bekateen]

Why? BFD?

BFD = Birmingham Fire Department?

No, seriously, March 3rd is my next fish club meeting. And to get to the fish club, I also drive in the general direction of @nabulus.

Cheers, Eric

[Linus_Cello]

Thought you may be flying over for
http://thebigfishdeal.com

[bekateen]

Ah, I did not see that coming (when I grew up, BFD was a way of cussing).

Sorry, but no I can't make it. That would be fun but it conflicts with my own club meeting, and I'm the program coordinator so I need to make it more often than not.

I hope the BFD is a whopper!

Cheers, Eric

[b.reder]

Big F...Deal is a way of cussing. Did I learn it on the East Coast or West Coast? -Barry

[bekateen]

Almost exactly two years since date of purchase, here are update photos of two of my original fish:

One male (which spawned recently) and one of the "bulky" females which has never spawned. It's this female that some of you suspect is H. contradens instead of L201.

Current sizes:
Female: ~64mm SL
Male: ~67mm SL

They've grown only 1 cm or less in two years! I did not expect that, wow!

[bekateen]

18 days post hatching. This is one who got loose into the parents' tank before I could pull the fry from dad's cave and put in a basket.

[bekateen]

Today I came home to a third L201 spawn. That's 3 spawns (two dads, one mom) in 32 days:

1. February 2
2. February 12
3. March 6

This egg laying occurred on the third day of trapping. Just minutes before the female laid her eggs and left the cave, I observed the male was facing OUT of the cave! That's right - he had reversed his position, with his tail pointing in toward the female. Is this to help fertilize the eggs?

I guess once they start, they keep going.

Cheers, Eric