L142 fry in my tank?

[Eikåsen]

Around 2 weeks ago I bought a couple of tanks and some equipment, and with them came a group of 7 L142/LDA33.

I was told.

They were from 7-15cm's long, and I knew nothing about them. And my only experience with Pleco's was having a couple of aquarium ancistrus that started to breed in my temporary koi and goldfish 360l tank. They're on their fourth spawning since xmas btw, so it's a lot of little rascals to clear out when time comes.

Anyhow.

Yesterday I noticed like 20 free-swimming fry in the 150l L142 tank, so I had to google them a little. Turns out they're pretty hard to get to breed? And I'm pretty sure they really are L142, they have the little fin between the dorsal and tail, haven't checked the dentition though. Otherwise they're identical in every shape and form to the ones I find pictured online.

I did nothing to make this happen, they were acclimatizing to my water and system in my mind, but the babies are out swimming as of yesterday.

My water is kinda special though, that might be the trick.

A drilled well 60 meters deep in bedrock, high in calcium and minerals, which I pH down with nitric acid.

Bam, there they were, I hope they'll feed and live. So far they have gotten de-shelled artemia eggs, and finely ground spirulina flakes, and most of them seem to be taking to it.

New to Pleco's but they're kinda fascinating... Any tips and tricks to keep them alive, and to keep the breeding going?

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

that sounds great - do you have any pics to share with us all ?

 

[Eikåsen]

Here's a try, with a resized pic using a brand new cam straight out of the box without reading the instructions...

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

nice looking tank... i have 1m2f male close on 20cm and females bit smaller and they look very close to breeding... female tries to get in males cave but he fights her off repeatedly... she gives up for a while and then she or the other female will try again in a few hours time...

when you have the knack of your new camera love to see a few more pics... mine arent camera shy and will quite often pose for you :lol:

 

[Nat's Fish]

Very nice! Congratulations. I wish I could pick up a new tank with some snowballs in it!

Hopefully you get some fry soon Johnno. Keep me in mind. Such beautiful fish

 

[Eikåsen]

Thanks guys.

And thank you Bigjohn, I guess the fake background did it's job then

The tank is in a rack behind the couch in my living room, below some spawning goldfish. Dimly lit, peace and quiet, and mine are shy still.

They neglect the premade smooth slate caves; they'd rather be hanging out on the natural rocks and course pieces of slates that I made for them. And the biggest one took up camp under a root.

As for my mineral rich water and nitric acid for pH down... This might mimic their river habitats, with clear water on rocky beds, and a fast nitrification of organics that brings the pH down? I keep the pH at around 6.5, and cleans out feces and leftovers every other day along with around a 20% water change. 27-28C.

They have just gotten sinking wafers, a combination of meat and algae.

I might have lost some fry, counting 17-18 today. They seem to be fond of store-bought de-shelled artemia, ground spirulina flakes too. It's what I have, plain and simple.

But they are SLOW to grow compared to the goldfish fry in another tank, and not bulking up much after feedings as they do... Is this normal?

And any suggestions for food, tips for growthrates and the like?

I would really love for them to make it, but I have extremely busy days here at Oak Ridge now in the spring, so there's not much time to follow up on neither fishtanks or new cameras... I'll do my best though.

Any tips and tricks highly appreciated, thanks again!

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

i have had mine for a long time and they are pretty slow growers... i would assume the fry to be the same... some different L-fry take 2-3months up to 12months to reach 3-4cm...

i would try some zuchinni in their tank as my adults love it eating the skin first then some of the inners....

just a word of warning i have found with low ph zuchinni can go mushy pretty quick and then fall apart and foul your tank and filters.... so to start with i would cut say 50mm off the end of a zuchinni and use a fork to weigh it down to keep it on the bottom and put it in for say 5-6 hours then assess whether or not its getting soft and about ready to come apart and foul your tank..

i have found if they are feeding on it regularly it takes longer to soften up...

remove it when its done....

 

[Eikåsen]

Thanks Bigjohn, they're getting zuchini and loves it.

But.

A word of warning.

It started out with like 20 fry, and today I'm down to 8-10. They were all feeding and growing well, so the gradual loss had me stumped. Until today.

I found 2 corpses floating around, both with torn bellies. They eat until they burst open. Atleast on ground spirulina flakes and artemia eggs. They eat leftovers from the adults too, so as long as I keep them in that tank it seems kinda hard to prevent.

And how the **** to feed with such precision in a dedicated tank to prevent this???

Or is it the food that's swelling after ingestion?

Never saw that before...

The growth rate isn't so bad after all btw, the biggest ones are like 15mm's now. And bulking up, a little too much in fact, after the feedings...

Any help?

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

just stick with the zucchinni - spiralina/eggs might be too much protein for their little bellies.... while they are young.....

 

[Eikåsen]

Thanks again.

I have never seen the fry eating from the zuchini. They eat off the mushy leftovers of the wafers that I feed the adults. Meat and algae. 10-12 left.

Beware when you get a spawning from yours. They eat until they explode, hehe.

Any idea when they start to attach themselves, so far they are still free swimming?

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

once their egg sac is used up they venture out of the cave and start foraging for food..... same for all plecs... unless the male kicks them out early then i would fry saver them... sometimes it pays to round up the fry and put em in a frysaver anyway so you can monitor how much they eat and watch their development.... and then when they reach 2-3cm you can let them out into main tank or another tank as its possible parents being so much bigger could accidentally whack em while swimming about... most fry when they are little struggle to find food and your survival rate is low... so it becomes a preference thing whether you let them be or try to pamper them in frysaver...

 

[Eikåsen]

Thanks again.

With deshelled artemia mine did NOT struggle to get food. I'll use a fry saver next time, I hope to God that they'll continue to spawn. The book of Pleco's recently acquired says that this variety needs to be fed meat with caution, as they can overeat as adults too.

And my aquarium shop ran by a very experienced guy adviced me to soak the eggs and flakes well before feeding, so it doesn't expand after ingestion.

12 left, counted today. The growthrate is comparable to my goldfish fry in another tank, they're growing fast but started out slower. Fat reddish little rascals, like 15mm's now.

I'll try to find time to look into that cam, and get a few pics posted one of these days.

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

look forward to seeing pics of the fry...

yes i feed my adults 1 cube of frozen daphnia and 1 cube of frozen brine shrimp each day on top of their usual zucchinni and serra flora flake and occasionally piece of pumpkin... i cut the end of a zucchinni say 3-4 inches long and fork it down in the tank and in one day they completely eat the skin off all around and have usually made 2 to 3 holes the size of a 20c bit into it as well... sometimes they eat the lot and leave a stringy frame of zucchinni floating on the surface

 

[leisure_man]

Try sweet potato too.