Leaf Litter Loricariidae

[naturalart]

Does anyone know of any of the smaller loricariids that prefer living in leaf litter?

[bekateen]

Hi Clay,

Juveniles of many loricariid species live among the leaf litter; I've caught baby Ancistrus, Lasiancistrus and Panaqolus when sifting leaf litter in Peru. I've also caught subadults of two local Iquitos area Rineloricaria in leaf litter, but those species aren't available in the hobby usually.

Good luck finding a species that really suits your goals.
Eric

[naturalart]

Thanks for the info Eric, another possibility will be Banjo cats.

[Jools]

Loricaria birindellii

is a good one. If not plecos, then also any of the forest Corys, so

Corydoras elegans

is a good one.

Jools

[naturalart]

Thanks Jools, the L. brinidellii is excellent, but a bit too big for the 40g they would be going into. The C. elegans is a good suggestion, are there any other forest cories I could be looking at?

[Shane]

Rio Santo Domingo, Cojedes State 7 April 2001
In its lower course the Santo Domingo is called a Rio while the upper portion is reffered to as Cano Santo Domingo. The exact collecting location was on the dirt road that leads west from highway 8 at Cano Benito approximately 40km north of El Baul. Since it is the dry season, the Santo Domingo is not a river anymore, but a series of unconnected pools. We collected from a pool under the bridge and turned up some very interesting fish. The pH was measured at 7.0 and the conductivity at 1,100 mu. The temperature was about 84F and the water had almost no visibility. In a glass container the water was the color of weak tea. This area is northern most range of Apistogramma macmasteri. The substrate was thick leaf litter and driftwood with no aquatic plants.

Collecting the leaf litter turned up

Corydoras aeneus "black"
Corydoras septentrionalis
Corydoras habrosus (thousands!)
Small banjo cats
Rineloricaria (1 specimen)
Otocinclus (thousands!)
Trichomycterids (at least 2 spp)
Two spp. of small auchenipterids
Small Pimelodus
Collecting around larger pieces of driftwood we encountered:

Hypoptopoma sp.
Hypostomus plecostomus
It was possible with one sweep of a ten foot seine to capture 200 Otocinclus and / or C. habrosus (the two were always mixed). The two auchenipetrids were also very common and we thought we only had one sp. as the color patterns are very similar. Only later did we realize that one has a dorsal and adipose fin and the other only has a small single dorsal spine with no adipose. We also turned up a number of interesting tetras to include some beautiful hatchetfish. The prime predators in the pools were large Hoplias. The water was so full of fishes that it seemed to boil, especially when a large school of Corydoras came up for air at one time. Norbert and I joked that it would be impossible to fill a tank with dead leaves, heat it to 84F, throw in a few old cans, and place about two inches of fish to every gallon. If you tried to replicate this environment exactly, it would be cruelty to animals!


The biotope:
This would be an easy and attractive tank to maintain. The other nice thing is that most of the fish are readily available. Lay down a substrate of about 3/4 inch fine sand. Cover this with two inches of old oak leaves. Along the back and the sides, place several pieces of driftwood. A long shallow tank (such as a 20 long) would be ideal. We caught C. habrosus and Otocinclus in 2-3 inches of water. Filtration should be very gentle such as that provided by a sponge filter. Throw in some 4-5 Apistogramma macmasteri, 10-15 C. habrosus (or smaller groups of the larger corys), 3 - 4 banjo cats, and top it off with some hatchet tetras.
-Shane

[naturalart]

Thanks for the info Shane, and that was a great story. Really painted the picture of a smaller dry-season creek (or "cano"?). I have most of those things you mentioned already in place but this tank is an attempt at breeding a rare tetra (Hyphessobrycon jackrobertsi). The group is wild-caught so fairly skittish and let's plenty of food hit the bottom (the excuse to get another cat). I'm glad you mentioned C. habrosus, I was definitely considering that species. I also saw a couple of nice banjo cats at the LFS yesterday. My only concern, now that I've got a working list of cats to choose from, is which cat would be the least efficient in finding the eggs the tetras will scatter into the plants and leaves? I'm thinking the banjo cats, any other opinions?

[Woodh]

Interesting info there Shane!

[sturiosoma]

Did someone say leaf litter one of my female rineloricaria lanceolata

[bekateen]

Did someone say leaf litter one of my female rineloricaria lanceolata

@sturisoma, based on the color pattern of the dorsal fin and head, this is not

Rineloricaria lanceolata

. I think it's

Rineloricaria eigenmanni

.

Cheers, Eric

[sturiosoma]

Eric once again you are right I did not take a good look at dorsal it is eigenmanni, and a few more photos, last photo theres 2 one near corner

Jeanne

[bekateen]

@sturisoma, think nothing of it.

By the way, your photos show both males and females (your initial photo is of a female; the three photos showing the most obvious fish in the leaves is of a male). Do you have any sexy time going on among them? Never mind. I see your breeding report. The answer is obviously yes! Congratulations!

Cheers, Eric