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Over the years I have chosen to to work with the B&W Hypanistrus (mostly from the Xingu). I have also chosen to do this with groups rather than pairs or reverse trios. For the most part my groups have had a bare minimum of 5 fish and a maximum of 13.

It has been my experience that with this number of fish it has been a very rare thing for more than two of the males to be spawning. Only once in my zebra tank of 13 adults did I have 3 spawns in different stages at the same time. I am not sure how many different females were providing the eggs, but I would doubt it was more than two ladies, maybe 3.

I am wondering if others who work with the smaller plecos in groups of similar sizes have the same experience?

When I was keeping tank raised strains of BN I found they would spawn like rabbits in any configuration as long as there were both sexes present.

Hi TTA,

I haven't bred many Hypans and when I have, it's been in groups of 5 or less adults. I can confirm I've had 2 spawns at once, but never 3 (since obviously I don't have a lot of pairs).

I have had 3 males of L397 spawning at once from a group of 5M:4F, but I can't confirm how many females were involved... I presume 3 since the spawns were simultaneous, and sometimes 2 on the same day, but I don't recall (without reviewing my posts) getting three new spawns on one day. That said, there is nothing that precludes a female dumping half her eggs with one male and half with another... just muddying the water.

I've also had 2 spawns on same day of Rineloricaria eigenmanni, Dekeyseria picta, and Ancistrus sp. Rio Ucayali, all of which were in groups of 6 or more adults, with at least 3 pairs per group.

Cheers, Eric

For me I have seen this often with mine as well. Sometimes I will have double or even triple spawns..... more often a second female will breed with a male that already has eggs and the eggs get destroyed, eaten, or just kicked out. In my experience the same can be said about Peckoltia, Panaqolus, and the rarer Ancistrus... common Ancistrus are just water bunnies and getting them to stop breeding is harder than getting them to breed for me anyways!

Take care,
Chuck