PlanetCatfish.com

I believe I have what is a Panaque maccus, see http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=12713 , however as a self-confessed pleco newbie I differ to the experts on this forum. I was wondering how difficult it is to breed maccus in an aquarium setting. Does one usually purchase 4-6 juveniles and let nature take it's course as one does with other fish species?

I ask these questions because I'm considering either buying some addition maccus to include in a 42G tank (36"x18"x15") with the sole fish I currently keep.

J

That is P. maccus and they should be mature around 5-6 cm because they are a small species there males get smaller then the females, there are few reports of breeding them but should not be impossible with the right treatment.
I dont have this species by my self but other small Panaque species benefits of a rain season there you let the conductivity (softer) drops with slightly cooler water changes.

Janne

I first bought a total of 8 small P. Maccus. Now I have sold three males and now I have probably 2 males and 3 females left.

I heard that they will have breed in small bambu-pipes and the female lay about 15-20 eggs. Like Janne said they need a rainy season for breeding.

Thanks for the information.

I didn't follow the "usual pattern", I bought two P. Maccus to begin with. These were, as it turned out, both females, so when I saw a male sitting in my LFS's tank, I splashed out and bought that one to make up a group that could be bred. I haven't tried to create rainy season. I would thin separating them into a their own tank would also be necessary, as they currently are in a big community tank with several other species of pleco's.

As a "beginner" pleco breeder, I would recommend starting on some "easy" specie, such as common bristlenose. There are many things to learn, and getting the fry from babies to sellable is one of those steps. It's easier to "experiment" with this if you have a specie that is relatively easy to get to spawn, rather than one that requires a lot of effort and may only spawn once a year...

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Mats

Interesting you should recommend that because I was just telling a friend a few days ago that I'd like to try my hand at breeding BN plecos. My only problem is that there are absolutely no BN's available in any LFS at the moment. It looks like I'm going to have to find a breeder or importer myself, of which I know a few. If you could refer me to some decent BN breeding articles or could document your own experience that would be great.

J

You shouldn't have much problem finding someone in Canada that has some bristlenoses for sale. It's sort of strange that your local shop doesn't have any, but maybe there's just no-one breeding them in your local area.

There are some breeding articles in Shane's world. Start with the Ancistrinae Internet Lecture and Pleco Breeding articles, then go for the more specialized ones.

Bristlenoses aren't particularly hard to breed, so it's mainly a case of:
1. Get a pair [they are relatively easy to sex when mature at 2"+]. It's perfectly fine to have more females than males.
2. Make sure there aren't any fish that will eat smaller than 1/2" baby fish.
3. Get good circulation in the tank.
4. Have some cave or similar that is small enough for the male to just barely get in, or some slate or similar that lies flat on the gravel that the male gan dig under [make sure it does't collapse when the male decides to undermine it...]
5. Keep feeding them with algae tablets, bloodworms and vegetables [See my article in Shane's World on feeding Herbivores].
6. When changing water, make it a little bit cooler than the tank. This will sometimes start the spawning.
7. Keep water around 22-25'C (72-77'F).

If you do a Forum Search, there will be lots written by me and others on the subject, but the above is a short summary.

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Mats

Thanks for the info. It is strange that none of the LFS' in my city currently have any BN. There are however a lot of breeders, just not locally, as BN's are scarce these days around here.

Check out aquabid.com there seems to always be BN on there for sale.

Unfortunately Aquabid's sellers are primarily based in the US and I'm in Canada. With the additional cost of shipping, customs and clearance it wouldn't be worth it. I did manage to locate some breeders in Canada and am waiting to hear their responses.

If you can't get any from the other breeders let me know. I breed common BN plecos, but I really have no clue how to mail them out. I only have juvies that are 1 1/2", the larger ones are already sold to my LFS. I am located in Toronto, Ontario. At that size, it'll take you 1/2 - 1 year to get them to start breeding. Not sure if you can wait that long.