L102 successfully breeding

[Dantheplecofan]

I am new to the forum here...I have used this site extensively in the past and have found this to be very useful -thank you all who have contributed, well done. I figured it was time to post some success that I have recently had. About two months ago I had my first clutch of L102's. 18 in all. They are extremely active little guys. they are most playful around the rockwork chasing each other around. I have been able to count 11 as of last night...some may be hiding in the rocks out of sight. The second clutch left the cave two days ago. About 15 so far. Very exciting stuff. The tank they chose to spawn in is a rather quiet 75 gal tank with ideal levels for a breeding environment. The babies seem to enjoy tetramin tabs along with algae wafers and of course the natural algae in the tank. Some supplemental veggies such as cucumber and squash has been introduced as well.
Here is a pic of the first batch feeding...


I hope to post more as they progress.

[MatsP]

Congratulations.

--
Mats

[nvcichlids]

I dont know if its just my computer, but I cannot see the pic.

Reguardless, congrats on having two sucessful batches. Could you post pictures of the set up, and where they bred?

[MatsP]

No, I can't see the image. I did edit the post to get to Dan's flickr page and found this:

Not sure if that's working permamently or what...

--
Mats

[apistomaster]

Well congratulations.
I had to check in the cat-elog to see what L102 were.
I like the white spotted Hypancistrus.
I have 8 L201 a friend bred and they were only about 5/8 inches when I got them but at $8.00 each I think that was a good deal. Now they are 2-1/4 inches about 16 months later. Some Hypancistrus really grow slowly. Mine have larger yellow white spots instead of bright white ones.
Finding newly independent pleco fry in your really makes your day doesn't it? I get a kick out of watching the little fry get into scraps over food.

[Dantheplecofan]

Thank you. My original goal was breeding the queen arabesque...still waiting. This brewd was a bit unexpected. I placed these two into the 75gal tank so that I could free up my 10 gal tank for some baby pecock c ichlids -about 30 of those...anyway, the male decides that he liked the driftwood cave. Two months later I notice both of them spawning in the driftwood...silly me, I thought they were fighting for territory. It lasted for about two days and then the female went back to her side of the tank. About two weeks later I notice one little guy at the bottom of the tank. After some spot counting I had counted about 18 in all. Took them about a day or so before they started to eat the food that I placed in the tank. About six weeks have passed since that time and now we have the second batch. 16 thus far that I can count from the second batch. Their older sibblings seem to be about double their size. I will take more pics and place them here:
Babies
The pictures show various stages read the comments for some detail. I am not very scientific about the process, but I will do my best to answer any questions that you may have.

Current setup:
-75Gal tank
-Penquin 350 power filter
-Rena XP3
-Sponge filter
(a bit overkill on filtration, but it helps with circulation.)
Temp 79 deg
PH 7.0
Nitrate 20ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Amonia 0ppm

apistomaster...the thing I like about the Hypancistrus is that they tend to be small. The L102's that I have are only about 3 1/2 inches long. Great for just about any tank. Not to mention the brilliant patterns you get from these guys. You got one heck of a good deal on your L201's! Very nice. The LFS I purchased these from had labeled them as a L102...I am suspecting that they may be more like an L201 due to the smaller size matches the pair I currently have. Take a look at the photos and tell me what you think...Either way, I am thrilled.

[apistomaster]

Hi Dan,

I thought your Hypancistrus had slightly smaller, much whiter spots on a darker field than my spotted Hyps. Both are very pretty and imagine how much they would cost if they were one of the Brazilian species instead of from the Orinoco drainage!

I also chose to work with the smallest species except my L333 which do get a bit larger but not as large as L66. I like the L333 because they are one of the easier species to breed and they have large broods. I am getting 40 to 50 fry per spawn from my L333.
I'm finding it harder to get my L260's to spawn than the other plecos I am breeding and like Zebras, their brood sizes average only about 10 after losing 1 or 2 per brood. And they grow slowly like H. zebra. They make a good warm up or practice species to gain experience until my H. zebra reach maturity. My L260 got into a groove in their former tank but since I set them up in their new tank in October they haven't spawned. Maybe they just take longer to adjust?

I don't spare the filtration and aeration in my pleco breeding and grow out tanks either. I try to have at least 10 to 12 tank volumes of circulation per hour between the use of power head driven sponge filters, one air lift sponge filter and an air stone in the breeding/grow out tanks. I take care to use sponge or netted off HOB intakes when I use them because the little plecos are so skilled at finding their way into tight or dangerous places like the impeller chambers. Don't want blended pleco fry.
Actually that is standard for even my Discus tanks except their breeding tanks. Too much current whether from air driven or power filters interferes with Discus larvae staying attached to the substrate they've been placed on and making that transition period when they begin to try to attach themselves to their parents. Once they are an inch or so I keep them in the same set ups as I use for my plecos. I do take a little care to aim the power heads so they bounce off a side panel to diffuse the flow some.

Pleco fry hide so well that i strongly believe in the "just one more theory". I thought I had removed all the L260 fry I had but later I saw 3 more. When I actually took out every single possible hiding place I discovered that instead of the 3 there were actually 12 more hiding in the tank. They are one of the most secretive of plecos in my collection. My L134 are the most extroverted of the species I have at least while they are still less than 1-1/4 inches. By the time they attain 2-1/2 inches they hide as much as my adult breeders but even so, they are more likely to come out and feed along side adult wild Discus; something my L260 don't do. My Zebras are also in with some adult wild Discus and they actually overcame much of their shyness after I added the discus. That came as a surprise to me. When they were alone in the tank they hid very well.