PlanetCatfish.com

I had some general keeping questions about the group LORICARIA. I know that they NEED sandy bottoms, no problem, all my tanks have it. I know they prefer some water movement, but how much is too much? Are they really sensative towards other loricariidae's? Do they mix well with anything? What temps?

I think the temperature depends on which species - they have a fairly wide distribution. If you know the species (or what river it comes from), you can probably use the Cat-eLog search to find a few different species from the same distribution and see what those have with regards temperature.

I expect any tank with anything less than "whirlpool" effect would be fine. Rivers tend to have a lot more flow than our tanks have.

Sorry, can't help with the behaviour/compatibility.

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Mats

any of the whiptail cats (Rineloriaria, Loricaria, Hemiloricaria, etc.) are easily spooked by the bulkier loricariids that we refer to as plecos. i wouldnt advise keeping any whiptails with plecos.... as i found out the hard way, they get easily spooked and end up hurting themselves by darting into the wall of the aquarium. try getting a group of, say, 5, of the same species. that would be an interesting setup.

The species I am looking at is listed as "Tiger Loricaria." which the pictures in the catelog had a few looking similar.

here is the link to the fish for sale. http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1264462597


Thanks for the start of help Mats!

-Nate

Looks similar to , but could of course be many other things - I'm no expert.

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Mats

That is the one that I had picked out to be most closely looking.

If that is what it is, I'd aim for about 25'C. Sorry, you'll have to convert yourself.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:If that is what it is, I'd aim for about 25'C. Sorry, you'll have to convert yourself.

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Mats

LOL that's fine, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Wow, $90! I'd say around 76-78F for these guys. I just spawned (which is what these look like to me) last week, all they really need is a lot of footprint. I have four (6-7") in a 36"x18" and they are OK with some young swordtails, but newly introduced can be spooked easily. Water current isn't vital but I think it helps with the amount of waste these fish produce as they are very good eaters. Cover is appreciated, they don't appear to be open sand fish.

Hope this helps,

Jools

do you think the $90 for 3 is too much? Would it be better to start with a less expensive species of loricaria?

Sorry, my mistake, I took it to be $90 per fish. $30 each for what look like adult fish looks OK to me.

Jools

I am going to my LFS tomorrow to pick up a "unknown " species of Loricaria that they just got in. Trading in three apisto trios (macmasteri, agasazzi red flame, and panduro) for the 3 fish that made it.

They look like similima to me as well. I had a group of these a while back and they were easy to keep and active, assertive fish. Never got them to breed though, and I replaced the group about a year and a half ago with a trio of Loricaria sp. Atabapo. Both are nearly identical in behavior. I currently keep the trio and 8 of their offspring (which have begun to breed) in a 100 gallon tank along with a group of farlowellas, some other mediums sized L numbers, a group of Dicrossus maculatus, and some hatchet fish. I do need to thin the stock soon, but its a happy tank and everyone gets along.

Ok, so I found someone more local and who I have delt with before and they are going to sell me some F1's Atabapo's. I will use 2-3 "stick" pieces of driftwood to break up the tank, and a few larger sized rocks. The sand I am using now is larger grade sand, so I am hoping to swap it out with a finer lighter sand (red flint sand is not very amazonian In my opinion.) I may also strip some vals from my nano 8 which has been filling up in the past 3 weeks with the introduction of Co2.

Quick question, would i be safe in adding my young L201 trio in with them? They are close to 2" tl, or would their be issues? I want to get some marbled hatchets as well as some black neon tetras (don't know why the blacks, have always found them much more colorful )

-Nate

hi,
I think the cat looks like
sorry, not too good at doing links!
regards
joe mc

edit; oh! it worked! opps no it did not ! Iwanted to try to do a link to Loricaria parnahybae and Loricaria sp 'rio atabapo maybe one of these?
Ithink that Iread somewhere that there has been some crossbreeding of some of these species?

[Mod edit: Fix problem with link by using CLOG tags - there is a "prefabricated CLOG link" in the data-sheet that can be copy'n'pasted... --Mats]

I keep and breed my Loricaria simillima in a 100 gallon tank with discus, torpedo barbs and German blue rams at 83 degrees F. A box filter in one end and a 500 Aqua Clear on the other. I have never had a problem and raise lots of fry by taking the eggs a day or two before they are ready to hatch.

Do the rams disturb the loricaria? I have some nice pairs of the electric blues I would consider keeping in the same tank as well.

The German Blue Rams are as big as anyone around here has seen. They are 3+ inches long and do not bother the Loricaria or try to take away their eggs. I also have with them a couple of pairs of Gold and Electric Blues.

nvcichlids wrote:Do the rams disturb the loricaria? I have some nice pairs of the electric blues I would consider keeping in the same tank as well.

I've collected Loricaria in the wild in the same biotope as rams. Sandy bottom for the cats and a driftwood tangle for the rams would recreate it perfectly, no plants. They were caught literally metres apart and both were spawning.

Jools

I even have a nice thicket of small crypts off to one side.

Jools wrote:

nvcichlids wrote:Do the rams disturb the loricaria? I have some nice pairs of the electric blues I would consider keeping in the same tank as well.

I've collected Loricaria in the wild in the same biotope as rams. Sandy bottom for the cats and a driftwood tangle for the rams would recreate it perfectly, no plants. They were caught literally metres apart and both were spawning.

Jools

Cool! I am going to go with plants though. I am going to do some water hyacinth to block out light and allow everything to be a more "secluded" feel.

Jools, If you don't mind me asking, what types of tetras did you find in their biotope?

nvcichlids wrote:Jools, If you don't mind me asking, what types of tetras did you find in their biotope?

Silver ones.

Jools

LOL thanks, I am trying to find the website I use to find the fish from the river, but I don't have it saved on my work computer. ... hmm... Will be throwing around ideas on tankmates here the next couple of days. I may post options and see what you think would be most logical.

-Nate

Edit: I forsee silver hatchetfish in the tank already! I have always wanted to keep some and it seems they are very common in that area!.