What do you feed an L-114 ?

[INXS]

I just got an L-114 and am trying to figure out a more permanent address for him, right now he is in with an L-168 and an ancistrus as that tank has plenty of bogwood and seems to be the best startertank for any plecos I have gotten.

I am curious about the feeding and growth habit of the L-114 though. As it looks similar to a gibby I am guessing it has similar dietery needs and that it will grow quite fast.

He does look like he could take care of himself though with the spines allover his body - no wonder the common name is Leopard Cactus pleco.

[polkadot]

I find that they like meaty food a lot....

[Caol_ila]

Hi!

Mine solely eats meaty foods like Bloodworms Daphnia etc...ive never seen him touch anything green.

And hes the slowest growing pleco ive ever seen. But opposite to his size he is really agressive towards other fish, also going after Corys and Dorads. Hes a real menace.

[Janne]

They really like meaty foods like frozen shrimps and blood worms and so on, even some "green" stuff like sinking spirulina wafers. If you compare with others loricariids they is not a slow growing species...they will grow twice the size in one year if they are feed propely. I mean if it's 10 cm or 4" when you buy it they will reach 20 cm or 8" quite fast. They are also quite agressive to other loricariids in same size, but it's unusual that they hurt each other serious.

Janne

[BK]

are they always agressive from a small size? i usually observe a tank at a local lfs that always has 2-5 L114 at 2-3 inch in it when i go to see what new fish have come in and i have never seem them fight with each other. shouldn't i have seen some agression between them?

[polkadot]

Usually they're more aggressive at a bigger size when they become more territorial.

[Plec0maniac]

hi u could train them with some veggies.. feed them with shrimps, fish, meat, etc. they also love to chow on wafers

[Caol_ila]

Hi!

My fish usually grow properly so this really wonders me what janne writes...mine has grown only half of what my L.oncinus grew in the same timespan...

Imho they arent agressive in lfs tanks cauz they are 1. very shy and 2. the tanks are heavily overcrowded so its like sardinas in a box. Mine is very timid coming only out to feed and showing very very seldomly.

[Janne]

I bought five L114 for 18 month ago and they was around 9-10 cm at that time, after a year two of them had reach 18 cm and two was 17 cm and the last one was only 15 cm.
Now the biggest four have reach 20 cm and the small one is 17 cm.
They grow fast in the beginning and now when they reach mature size it's going much slower, the size is TL.

They are very teritory and fights on the nights, so I have seperated them in two other tanks. If they have enoff space they will not fight so much only if they come to close to each other hidingplaces/caves.

Janne

[Cartman]

My L114 is a garbage disposal, he eats most anything but heavily prefers meaty foods like shrimp and mussels. Their aggression definitely increases w/ size and age. They're fast growers like Janne said. Mine put 4"s on in less than a year. Mine is relatively intollerant of all the other Lori's in the tank espescially the Royal. Another thing to note is to not keep them w/ smaller Corydoras, about a year or so ago when mine was just reaching about the 6 to 7" range I was keeping a school of a dozen or so Panda Corys in this tank too. Over a two month period that school slowly dissappeared form the tank w/o a trace. Needless to say he really plumped up fast in that period.

[spikie]

My L114 is five inches. he eats everything>potato, waffer, shrimp, bloodworm..its v peaceful even chew waffer tab with my other pleco. never bite others in a tank of 13 pleco.