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Why are small L95 virtually impossible to find?

I'm afraid this has something to do with their spawning behaviour and swimming style.

This Pseudorinelepis species releases it's eggs in open water. the eggs and later the fry 'ride' the current further downstream. therefore it's not possible to trap a male L095 in it's cave to steal the fish and it's fry, since they don't use caves for breeding.

I guess adult L095 can be caught on sight and touch, whilst the young are just impossible to catch, since they are so small and swim in open water.

I'm not terribly sure about this, so you might want to wait for others to join in.

edit: forgot to say, i am not aware of any breeding attempts for this species. I think the species is not bred in captivity yet. This is probably part of the problem as well.

Interesting breeding behaviour. Is this documented somewhere (reliable?)?

--
Mats

Unfortunately i didn't remember correct

I've read the above in Ingo Seidel's book 'Back to Nature Guide to L-catfishes', but this is for Rhinelepis, not Pseudorinelepis... stupid me It's on page 45 (Dutch version) of the book.

According to this book, many young L095 are imported from Peru (page 185).

Rhinelepis have been claimed to be non-guarding broadcast spawners in "Relationship between oocyte morphology and reproductive strategy in five loricariids of the Parana River, Brazil" by Suzuki, Agostinho, and Winemiller. They don't mention Pseudorinelepis.

Hi,

a few years ago we found this L 95. They were only about 12 to 15 cm in total length, fully coloured.