Breeding and keeping the L134 peckoltia compta (leopard frog pleco)

[Brengun]

Breeding the L134 leopard frog pleco now Peckoltia compta.
SPECIES: Peckoltia compta L134

COMMON NAME: Leopard frog pleco.

AGE/SIZE OF ADULTS AT SPAWNING: 8 to 9cm first spawn.

COUNTRY WHERE SPAWN OCCURRED: Queensland, Australia

TANK SIZE (GALLONS OR LITRES): 120cm x 36cm x 36cm, 155L tank capacity.

TANK FURNITURE: (PLANTS/CAVE TYPE/WOOD) Anubias on driftwood, potted anubias, java fern, amazon sword. Caves round ceramic log.

TANK SUBSTRATE: Mix of ordinary gravel, plant mix and a little sand.

TEMP: Jager heater set 26C. Temp range 26 to 28C.

PH: 7.2 dropping during the week after water change.

dH (GH/KH): 4 or less.

FILTRATION/POWERHEAD/CURRENT: Undergravel filter, 3 risers and airstones, 4th riser section has canister intake with canister Otto 450L. Power filter Eheim pickup

LIGHTING (TYPE/DURATION): Room fluros 4ft about 12hours a day, late morning to late night.

FOODS: Hikari algae wafers, Sera flora flake, Sera Viformo tabs, Cucumber.

FREQ OF FEEDING: Daily

QTY/% OF WATER CHANGES: 25-30% rain water

FREQ OF WATER CHANGES: Weekly

HOW WAS SPAWNING INDUCED?
19/08/09 Colony sexed and selected. Size 8-9cm.
25/12/09 TDS156, N5, ph7.2
2/2/10 Seeded canister added

Combination of rainwater wc, cooler and showery weather and added a canister with increased current. Previously only ugf and power filter filtration.

Addition of a reptile cave over the pleco spawning cave also allowed the female to sit closer with privacy.

DATE HATCHED: 13/03/10

WERE PARENTS OR EGGS/FRY REMOVED AFTER SPAWN? Fry removed and raised in thefishcave frysaver.

NUMBER OF FRY HATCHED: 6

NUMBER OF FRY SURVIVED: 2

FIRST FOODS: Sera viformo (big mistake which bloated 4 of the fry initially), Hikari algae wafers, cucumber, Sera flora flake.

FREQ OF FEEDING: daily with cucumber in supply at all times.

Tank photo prior to introducing the canister filter

Breeding end of 4ft tank.

Adult hanging out under the reptile log.

Just hatched.

A few days later.

One week old.

Three weeks old.

Ten weeks old.

Five months old.

No further spawns as the male got a bit too amorous with the female and chewed off her tail. It has taken time to grow back and has just come good now. She has regained her gravid condition recently.

Damaged female.

Healing nicely female.

New, hopefully less damaging male to pair with female.

 

[macvsog23]

Fantastic we need more stuff like this

 

[bigbird]

:clap: well done and great report. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jacqueline]

Nice report!! Well done :clap:

 

[Mooo]

Brilliant log, Thanks Brenda

 

[Misha]

L134

A wonderful report, Brenda. Thanks for the photos, too. Some great colour in your fish - and that's one fat new male you have there. Good luck with your next batches.

My L134's had their first spawn last month. The fry are so cute and appear to be fast growing. They love their live BBS. Do you remember their size at 10 weeks and 5 months?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[JackGillett]

Well said bob, great stuff bren

 

[Pleco Fan]

A lot of time and effort but I see the rewards are worth it, Great log.

 

[iaw]

Hi well I found your breeding tanks and logs really good, not only do they look like a show piece, the logs,round pips and caves gives me ideas o try and do something to mine, I only have a 3 foot tank but no reason why it cant look as showy as your, I think its your breding room, and i be happy if mine looks as good in my home when i finished, thanks

Ian

 

[marls]

well done and congrats

Hi Bren,
Thank you for sharing such detailed information, well done and congrats :clap:

Did you use any medication to assist with the healing of the female's tails?

Keep up the great work

Cheers
Marls.

 

[Brengun]

Yes, she looked quite bad but there was no fungus established on it so I just added Waterlifes Myaxazin for a few days to keep the bacteria count down a bit and kept up the water changes to maintain pristine water quality. Also went a little bit easier on the feeding for a week or two.

No ones even looking like breeding atm. Fine clear blue skies day after day after day.
The next state is hogging all the rainy season.

 

[ccole]

excellent log bren- this may be a silly question but any reason you have used such deep substrate? cheers again cole

 

[Lornek8]

excellent log bren- this may be a silly question but any reason you have used such deep substrate? cheers again cole

She's running an undergravel filter.

 

[marls]

Yes, she looked quite bad but there was no fungus established on it so I just added Waterlifes Myaxazin for a few days to keep the bacteria count down a bit and kept up the water changes to maintain pristine water quality. Also went a little bit easier on the feeding for a week or two.

No ones even looking like breeding atm. Fine clear blue skies day after day after day.
The next state is hogging all the rainy season.

Hi Bren
Waterlifes Myaxazin was added to the water and not the wound..yeah?

I'm glad she's fully recovered....:yes:

Thanks for the great info
Cheers
Marls

 

[Plecomate]

Great Write up and very useful. Printed this out and kept for future reference. Thanks buddy

 

[Brengun]

Yep, Myxazin just added to the water. Most times I don't add anything, just keep the water clean but she had worse case which looked deeper and took longer to heal so Myxazin in the water kept the bad bacteria off it.

 

[Mooo]

:thumbup:You are the pleco whisperer after all..:clap:

 

[Brengun]

LOL thanks for the compliment Mooo.

 

[chez]

Thanks for the information Brengun. Just got some of these.

 

[Brengun]

Just sorting mine out after getting a few more different bloodlines. One tanks got too many boys so its revolving caves games on and the other has too many females and boy they can be catty. Saw one female bite the heck out of a lesser females tail and she jolly well meant it too!