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already have 4 L134s, 1 male and the rest are females. I am planning to move them in a 20 gallon species tank. Would that size be enough? And also what's the safest way to soften the water? I read an article indicating that soft water instead of strong currents make this species spawn.

Hi Elmoy,

There's a good article on L134 breeding here.

You should also have a look at the general articles in [http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld#reproduction], like Larry Vires Pleco Breeding Techniques and Ingo Siedel's Ancistriane Internet Lesson.

If you have further questions, do a quick search for L134 in the forum, and you should find plenty more articles.

If you still have questions after that, feel free to ask...

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Mats

To answer your question about softening the water we need to know what kind of water you have today...hardnes for example
There are several ways to achieve softer water but all depends on how hard it's from beginning.
If you have more then 1 male...the 20 gallon tank will be to small but are ok for 1 male and max 3 females.

Janne

Can you get RO water ??

Janne wrote:To answer your question about softening the water we need to know what kind of water you have today...hardnes for example
There are several ways to achieve softer water but all depends on how hard it's from beginning.
If you have more then 1 male...the 20 gallon tank will be to small but are ok for 1 male and max 3 females.

Janne

sorry for the very late reply here's my setup:

1 male and 3 females housed in a 20 gallon tank

ph - 7.5
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
gh - 9 dgh

sojapat wrote:Can you get RO water ??

yes.

If you dont have any instrument to measure conductivity you can use a dGH testkit instead and let the hardnes drop from 9 dGH as you have to be around 2-3 dGH under 1-2 weeks and keep it there until they breed...if there are any females ripped you will see the attempt's and hopefully a spawn.
Keep an eye on the pH under the time...it can drop but is ok as long you are above 6.

Janne

Janne wrote:If you dont have any instrument to measure conductivity you can use a dGH testkit instead and let the hardnes drop from 9 dGH as you have to be around 2-3 dGH under 1-2 weeks and keep it there until they breed...if there are any females ripped you will see the attempt's and hopefully a spawn.
Keep an eye on the pH under the time...it can drop but is ok as long you are above 6.

Janne

Would a 10% RO water change for every other day be ok? does salt change the parameters of RO water? I add 1 tablespoon of salt for every 5 gallons, is that ok? Thanks.

You should not add salt, that's increasing the conductivity, which is the opposite of what you want.

Also, most freshwater fish don't like salt added to the water.

If you're using only RO water, you would have to add some minerals to the water, as the fish will not be "happy" without some forms of minerals, but this would be MUCH less than a tablespoon per 5 gals, and should be the right mix of different salts, not just sea-salt or "aquarium salt".

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Mats

You can change 10-20% each day until you reach 2-3 dGH...it takes longer time then you think to lower the conductivity when you do in this way. And like Mats said...no salt, when using only RO-water some kind of mineralmix are needed to add but in your case there will be enough left from the tapwater...dont go to low.

Janne

Will do 20% daily water changes. I'll update you guys after 2 weeks. Thanks.