Breeding size/age for L387 or other Ancistomus

[Jobro]

Hey folks,

I have a group of 6-7 L387. I bought them about 10 month ago as youngsters. They grew nicely. And the females look pretty gravid to me. It's actually frightening how fat they are. But the males dont show any odontodes or the likes of it. But at least 2 of them are caving. Need to know if there are any other signs on Ancistomus males when they are ready for the game

I think they are about 1.25 years old. Size maybe 8cm TL.

They are my first dive into Ancistomus, so I am unsure if these are ready to spawn or not. Need to move them in a seperate tank if I want to spawn them I think. But can't waste too much tank space on them, if they take another year or so

[Jobro]

Where are the Ancistomus Breeders?

[panaque]

Where are the Ancistomus Breeders?

I kept L147 for a few years. I'm pretty sure I had only males but I never saw any clear hairiness on any of them, even when they were fully grown. I'd say that if the females are gravid and the males are caving it might be worth giving it a go.
Just in case you hadn't already found these articles...
https://www.planetcatfish.com/shaneswor ... eding+L147
https://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm ... cle_id=407

[bekateen]

Hi Jobro,

I have some adult L387 for about one year, a mix of males and females. They all constantly hide in caves but I've observed no trapping yet.

Cheers, Eric

[Jobro]

Thanks for the answers. Sadly the links didn't give a lot about minimal breeding sizes.

Decided to pull the fish for some shots:

L387 Pair

L387 Males

L387 Females

Got 4 Males and 3 Females from what I can tell. Females are really gravid.
Will put 1 or 2 pairs into a seperate breeder for some months and see what happens.

[cpit225]

I have a juvenile group coming today, can only hope they look as good as yours! Good luck!

[Jools]

As a very rough rule, plecos will breed at 50% of max SL. A bit less (+/- 15%) when they grow big, more when they are smaller.

Jools

[racoll]

Just a quick point:

L387

is not an

Ancistomus

as currently recognised, but a

Peckoltia

.

Armbruster et al. (2015) restricted Ancistomus to A. snethlageae, A. feldbergae, A. micrommatos, A. spinosissimus and A. spilomma.

The "Ancistomus" with dorsal saddles and bands in the tail should be in Peckoltia.

[Jools]

Just a quick point:

L387

is not an

Ancistomus

as currently recognised, but a

Peckoltia

.

Sorted that.

Jools

[stuby]

Hi Jobro,

I do not have the L387..... but I have bred similar plecs. Basically if the females are gravid and the males are at least the size of the females they can breed. You may have to play around with the water..... do larger or small daily water changes..... maybe stop doing water changes like you have for a time. Change often does the trick in this kind of pleco..... you just need to try different things and see what works for them.

HTH
Chuck

[Jobro]

If these are Peckoltia, shouldn't the males get brushy tails? The males don't seem te resemble peckoltia from the body shape, either.

Thanks for the input guys. Hope I can return the favors with some good fry pictures, soon ;)

[racoll]

Sorted that.

Might also want to move the following as they aren't

Ancistomus

either:

Ancistomus sp(1)

Ancistomus sp(l147)

Ancistomus sp(l208)

Ancistomus sp(l210)

Ancistomus sp(l424)

Ancistomus sp(l430)

Ancistomus sp(l487)

Ancistomus sp`rio_nanay`

Ancistomus wernekei

If these are Peckoltia, shouldn't the males get brushy tails?

Posterior nuptial odontodes I think are a primitive character at the level of

Ancistomus

and

Peckoltia

, so are not of much use in distinguishing the genera, as both have them to varying degrees. It does look like the character---I'd need to check this though---could be diagnostic of a larger clade (the "Peckoltia" clade of Lujan et al., 2015), comprising

Panaqolus

,

Scobinancistrus

,

Ancistomus

,

Peckoltia

,

Hypancistrus

,

Peckoltichthys

,

Isorineloricaria

,

Aphantorulus

, "Hemiancistrus" landoni, and "Spectracanthicus" immaculatus.

P.S. Apologies for derailing your thread about breeding Jobro. Mods can split the thread if that's easier.

[Jobro]

I don't mind having a little chit chat about this topic here

I mean they just don't look like most peckoltias I have seen. Body seems too long and flat in comparison.