Vampires!

[Brengun]

I bought these little fellas at 3cm (1.5") in Sept last year. Now they range from 5.5cm to 9cm (3 to 3.5"). I feed them on Hikari algae wafers and Sera viformo.

Feisty guys wanted to bite me. They have retractable fangs. Also of note are the two spurs on the back of the head and on some a spur on the adipose fin. I don't think they will be very cuddly anymore when they grow to 30cm (1ft).
Neatest fish I've seen tho.

The flash makes some of the black fish appear brown.

This ones been fighting already which is why I moved them to a wider tank.

Nice plump one. Who says Leporacanthicus are skinny fish?

Oh btw they grew out of their cute pink spots they used to have when babies eating bbs.

 

[scatz]

Brilliant photo's Brenda.
Great looking fish too, they all look healthy to say the least, and imo look better now they aren't pink anymore lol.
You think these are spikey, you wait til you get some big pseuda's!

 

[bigbird]

wow beautiful :clap: , cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[zeebo]

very nice :clap:
I almost bought a little cutie, very small , but read it would grow to 11'' and saw the teeth....well, I went with the L128 :hi:
Good luck with the group , they do look very healthy !
Georgie

 

[Brengun]

Way cleaner to keep in a tank than those big panaques tho.

 

[Mooo]

Fabulous photos :clap: Just love these guys, They grew up lovely didn't they :yes:
I wouldn't wanna be the one handling em at a foot long tho..:goodpost:

 

[Jimmy]

Very impressive photos and fish :clap::clap::clap:

 

[Pleco Fan]

Indeed great pleco's some of your photo's look like they been taken with the plec out of the water aka pic 7 or maybe a show tank? anyway very nice!

 

[Catfishman]

Very nice pics! :clap: :clap:

 

[ccole]

they are totally wild!!!!!!

 

[Brengun]

Indeed great pleco's some of your photo's look like they been taken with the plec out of the water aka pic 7 or maybe a show tank? anyway very nice!

Pics 2 and 7 are out of water. Sneaky way to get that pec fin up is to sit it on the glass lid. They get really antzy and put the fin up really nice. Only a good idea if they look like they will sit still though. If they don't, I have a rubber covered flooring and they bounce well. :whistle:

 

[wolfwarrior]

nice group, and awesome pics.

 

[Hypanaddict]

Fantastic pics of some stunning fish Brenda :thumbup:

 

[meloizias]

Lovely plecs, shame they get so big

 

[Stan]

As usual, Awesome pics Bren!:thumbup:
Pretty fish as well!:drool:

 

[Brengun]

Lovely plecs, shame they get so big

Oh I don't know, some of the gibbies and sailfins get even bigger and newbie keepers quite often mistake them when juvies as the common bristlenose.

I even have a peppermint bristlenose male that has reached a whopping 17cm.
Impressive with attitude I would describe him as.

At least when these vampires get to full size (females a little smaller), I wont need to wear my glasses to see em. :thumbup:

 

[bigbird]

:lol: or you can feel their bite. :thumbup:

 

[Brengun]

Less painful than when my triggerfish latches on or my lionfish gets too friendly I expect.

Gosh there are variances in the profiles of these vampires.
In regards to foods, 3 sites say carnivore, one says not a true vegetarian and one says true vegetarian. Say what??

Water temps 25-29C, 22-26C, 22-30C. Wish they would make up their minds for goodness sake.

PH 5.5 - 7.5, 5.6 - 7.0, and 6.0 - 7.0.

Adult size also varies from 9.8" or 25cm to 12" or 30cm.

I have requested information from the breeder to see just exactly what her water, feeding and sizes are. From the horses mouth so to speak.

 

[Brengun]

Righteo, heres the profile from a breeder. Size range would indeed only be about the 9.8" or 25cm in captivity. Wild caught would be another matter and I think that is what the profiles showing 30cm or 12" are on about.

Temperature range is 25-30C. Is possible they could well 'take' down to 22C but with a huge temp swing like that I don't think they would be thriving too well.

PH wasn't touted as especially important but a range of 5.5 to 7.5 is correct, not a max of 7 as in some profiles.

Vampires are carnivores, not vegetarians although as with all carnivores they don't mind the odd bit of vegetables for a bit of internal roughage.

 

[bigbird]

Ok just a small tip from my german breeding friends, they state these Vamps for breeding prefer cave and log entrances with a side entrance only. also they like fast flow water, need a substrate and additional oxygen. This in case you did not know. cheers jk :thumbup: