L135 Trio

[Jobro]

Wanted to share my trio of L135 with everyone.

L135, 1 Female, 2 Males

I am pretty sure I have two males and 1 female. Female seems to have a little brighter colouration.

Here some pictures of the female for future references and to help other people identify genders.

L135, Female

L135, Female

L135, Female Vent

L135, Female Vent

[Jobro]

Here is one of the males:

L135 Male, Side

L135 Male, Top

L135 Male, Vent

L135 Male, Vent

I think the difference in the vent and the belly is pretty obvious.
Females might be of a brighter colour. Males show some odonthodes on their caudal.
Almost no odonthodes on the pectorals on both male and females.

I think they will show more dimorphism once they are fully grown. Males do not cave, yet. Female is probably ready to go though. Not sure why the males don't want. Either too young or not the right triggers (food, water?).

[bekateen]

Hi Jobro,

Very nice looking

Peckoltia braueri

. Good luck with them, I hope they spawn for you.

You mentioned they aren't full grown yet. Do you have SL measurements? Do you have any good photos showing the caudal odontodes?

Cheers, Eric

[Jobro]

Hey Eric,

I just had to double check to be sure. But my fish are not P. braueri.

P. Braueri shows 8 dorsal ray fins while L135 only show 7.
P. Braueri origins from the Rio Takutu while L135 is from Rio Demini.

I'm not sure if P. Braueri is available to hobbyists at all?

SL is between 6 and 7cm. TL probably about 8cm.

When I said caudal, I did not mean the fin but rather his "tail" no idea how to call it biologically correct in english, you might help me out there

I did some quick and dirty paint job to show the differences:

L135 Odonthodes Male vs Female

And also one for the vents:

L135 Vents Male vs Female

There is another appearance of the "orange dots" around the female vent. Seems to hold it's truth with many peckoltia.

Thank you for the compliments. The fish are really beautifull. The pattern on the face is just great and they tend to be not too shy. The female will sometimes keep munching on her food even if I point the flashlight on her at night. They show up for feeding during day as well.

I am looking forward to get some spawns from these. But there are only few reports. And not much in regards as to how to trigger/force a spawn. I read something about very accidic and soft water but I also saw a spawning report on quite neutral waters as well. Maybe it's due to the confusion of L135, L121 and P. Braueri? Some reported spawns might not have been ID'ed correctly so the spawning reports can not be entirely trusted. They can be mixed up easily especially L121 and L135 if you don't know the localities.

[Jobro]

Half a year later, one of my male L135 finally started to inhabit a cave. The other male still roams around the tank without occupying any caves. Since they share their tank with L204 and L260 I decided to move the male and female to their own little tank. I used the occasion to get some pictures for you folks. As this is one of the less commonly bred species I would like to record my progress:

L135 male left, female right.

L135 male left, female right.

The female put on quite some weight, while the male seems to have grown a little and put on at least some more odontodes on his caudal.
The female is the only pleco in this tank that would come out to feast on some pleco tabs during daytime. She is usually always there, when I drop one in for the apistogrammas, and it brightens my mood to see her while all the other ones wouldn't bother showing their selves. Overall L135 seems to be not that timid and the males use to roam around during daytime as well. But the males are not as keen on getting their dose of food during daytime as the female is. You might still get to see them every now and then if you wait patiently though.

Here is another vent comparison between Male and Female:

L135 vent male

L135 vent female

[Jobro]

And a side to side comparison:

L135 male side

L135 female side

Female is shorter and fatter. Male longer and thinner.

And a pectoral comparison:

L135 male pectoral

L135 female pectoral

Not much differences to see here. No odontodal growth on the pectorals what so ever.

I put them in their own little tank: sand (they really love to dig), 4 caves of different sizes, lots of wallnut leafes. I hope to have a spawn within the next 2 weeks since the female is really gravid and I am pretty sure they are ready to go. I also got a hint from a successfull L121 breeder, that males would only cave during breeding season. I assume it is the same for L135 since my males refused to occupy caves for a long time now.

[bekateen]

A nice looking couple!

Good luck,
Eric

[-carlo]

Beautiful fish you have! Any luck in breeding them yet?

I have five of these (bought as L121 but extremely similar to yours) two years ago. Any way to tell the female from male without catching them? I suspect I have four males and one female, but photographing her belly in the dark when she's sucked up against the glass isn't exactly easy, so I'm not sure yet.

Really hope I have at least one female, would love to breed this species.

[Jobro]

Hey there, sorry I had no luck, yet

I lost my only female when she manged to jump out of the tank through a tiny whole in the cover of the tank...

Males will have odontodes on their tails during spawning season. They will look more elongated and a little thinner. Females tend to not cave. But males will not always cave either. It's pretty hard to sex them without taking them out.

[-carlo]

Sorry to hear it. I guess i'll take them out to check.
Thanks for the info. I have an open tank which doesnt seem like such a good idea now.

[Jobro]

Yeah, many of us lost plecos to jumping out of the tank. It is a real danger that should not be left unconsidered.

[racoll]

I just had to double check to be sure. But my fish are not P. braueri.

P. Braueri shows 8 dorsal ray fins while L135 only show 7.
P. Braueri origins from the Rio Takutu while L135 is from Rio Demini.

I'm fairly sure L135 is P. braueri. The Takutu, upper Branco, Demini share a lot of the same species, and it fits the description.

L135 and P. braueri both have seven branched (soft) dorsal-fin rays. This is not including the first hard spiny ray.

[Jobro]

I just had to double check to be sure. But my fish are not P. braueri.

P. Braueri shows 8 dorsal ray fins while L135 only show 7.
P. Braueri origins from the Rio Takutu while L135 is from Rio Demini.

I'm fairly sure L135 is P. braueri. The Takutu, upper Branco, Demini share a lot of the same species, and it fits the description.

L135 and P. braueri both have seven branched (soft) dorsal-fin rays. This is not including the first hard spiny ray.

Not sure about this. I don't see any P. Braueri in the trade at all.
Also: L121 is definitely not same as L135 and L305 like the cat e-log claims.

We got dozens of wormline hypancistrus from the same river system and yet people are so eager to seperate L236 from L333 and so on... but you want to throw L135, L121 and L305 in one bucket?

[-carlo]

I'm interested in this myself. I've bought mine as L121 but they are quite similar to yours. Tomorrow I will try to shoot some pictures to compare.

[Jobro]

I'm interested in this myself. I've bought mine as L121 but they are quite similar to yours. Tomorrow I will try to shoot some pictures to compare.

L121 should have an orange seam on their caudal and dorsal fin. L135 has no seam on either.

[racoll]

Also: L121 is definitely not same as L135 and L305 like the cat e-log claims.

Sure, there are differences, absolutely. I guess the issue is that I don't like the idea of "retiring" L-numbers. For me, being L135 and being

Peckoltia braueri

do not need to be mutually exclusive. I would call them Peckoltia braueri "L135". This preserves the fact that they fit the description of P. braueri broadly, but that they have local variation.

Nice fish by the way!