firenzenz

Was going through some old shots and found shot of this guy. I only ever had one female so she had a tough time and eventually died. Anyone got them? Would love to get some again one day

never had one though friend did and reckoned it was complete omnivore and even saw it grazing on wood in that it left track marks in it

Yeah lost my colony of L46 this morning cause couldn't be arsed maintaining the tank :evil:

what I find interesting is the state of list as supplied by Zev. If it is as it reads it is a diabolical shambles with clearly no consultancy with any entity that has a clue of the current environment and designated ID's If that is a template for importation possibilities no wonder we are repeatedly frustrated by erroneous IDs in plecs

A 620T is too small for all of those fish together or even by themselves IMO

Multiples of each should have them keeping to themselves and be OK Potential for trouble if Nics manage a spawn

It's Not that I dont think incentive for breeding is a good idea, but unless I'm missing some points here it would seem a very tenuous link between the amount of efffort and logistics required for the objectives put forward. I wonder if those resources were put in the direction of creating registry of importers/ wholesalers and creating liasions with them and setting about ways of improving our fish stocks at that level. The issue that started this thread and the discussion that has transpired would seem to me identify the logical progression in the system as it stands. If we don't change the position or influence in the food change then we will always feed on scraps.

Buyer beware?

yes the quality of a breeder should not be the amount of fish but the quality of the fish he/she supplies. my original Copadichromis azureus male was far from impressive but his alpha son then his alpha son have produced stunners Unfortunate the gold award clan seem sometimes more interested in the Kudos to be gained within the "society" they're in and the competition to breed first for that Kudos and also to reep the first of any financial gains. BTW- Cuckoo synos juvi's for sale soon.LOL

Chocolate zebs( L270) are readily available now with 2-3 breeding programs going. Babyfish in Akl sells good sized juvis for $50.00 but colour is chocolate brown over caramel type colour not white with black brown as per L46.And not with the L46 blue eyes either that need to be seen to be believed. L270 will also get to 12-15cm where L46 8-10cm I'd say L134 peckoltia sp. "Leopard frog mouth" would be the closest thing to L46 in size and colouring and while not seen here( not to be confused with 'leopard frogs' that were), the genus itself is allowable so no reason they can't come in. Google image it. I reckon if they came in the hoohaa about L46 would take a knock. Stunning fish The king tiger(l066) has squiggly stripes but will get to 15cm as would the L260 Queen Arabesque L136 is different colouring but closest to L46 in size All plecs listed are Hypancistrus species except L134

Ryan is correct about the L46. Nothing to do with inbreeding and the remaining fish are from different gene pools.

I think Blue phantoms are available off the wholesale list in two sizes, show and other size. The show size is almost certainly all males. Sexing is hard and not really able to 10-12cm. I've had 5 of these from 2cm 4 yrs ago and biggest now about 16cm. They are a great plec.

L400 hypan.

Really? That's crazy- They are cool but not that cool. Might have to rethink the wishlist

Snowball is common name for L102 Hypancistrus species and was available a few yrs ago but not recently Snowflake is common name for Baryancistrus species L142, or LDA33. The later name seems to be used more here. It seems to come up fairly regularly.

but surely it is the thin edge of the wedge unless importation practices take a huge change of direction.

I've had to hold my tongue before as I've watched workers in LFS take $52.00 from the person who can only afford 2X Dems, or $120.00 for two tropheus. I wonder if the argument that a higher price will encourage better fishkeeping practise works when the threat to a fishes existence is the social dynamic of a tank set up. Anyone suggesting that they wouldn't let an auction run past a price they were hoping they would get for a fish or decline an offer that is too much is either a saint or deluding themselves. Even Location of the seller can have a bearing on the price in terms of exposure to the market. And market size is also a contributing factor. how many groups of cuckoo synodontis will i expect to sell at the first sale price? what will i get a group of L270 chocolate zebs for this time nxt year. When L46 young come up for sale how many sales will it take to saturate the market without a reduction in price. Ultimately the reduction of prices can only indicate healthy stock of a fish. It was only 3 yrs ago I paid $60.00 for a single juvi Red empress male. Now I can buy 2 spawns 2cm of fry for that price. The fact that we are going to find it harder and harder to import new species to ignite the passion of breeders to buy is a big issue here. Trying to moralise capitalism has eluded bigger issues than this perhaps.

They'd probably get good money for writing a book on how they do it.

It is also a case of supply and demand. How many times has there been a case of keen keepers/breeders paying good money for relatively rare or new fish. There seems then to be a race of soughts to breed them as quickly as possible to get to market first as the price will be higher. I think selling fry at $2 each is probably a good price as the buyer is buying a gamble in terms of the fishes quality, sex and the purity of the strain, even the quality of single fish at such an age. I try to keep my Africans to 4-5cm where I can cull out runts, have a better chance of supplying sexed fish and also giving the buyer a product with which they can do something with, ie not having to grow them out in fry tanks. How many people are buying a bunch of fry to get one lovely male? Even then the cost will be set by the demand at the time. As said above everyone has a different approach to their methods and goals. If it was about revenue I'd probably better served breeding only cardinals, neons or goldfish.

Severums will get larger than the salvini although probably wont threaten the other tankmates as much. Jewels would hammer dwarf flags I would have thought. How big is the tank? Too small and it's going to be war zone. How about blue Acara

Sajicas are great parents in that regard. don't get that big, relative of convicts but far more colourful. Apistos- and blue rams are nice but little harder perhaps to get going.

Then if that wasn't confusing enough scientists are continually reclassifying the genus(family) of these fish but "L" number stays the same. There are many genus(family) of plecs that have "L" numbers. Also many pleco's with "L" numbers have corresponding common names that suppliers here will use on other fish which are totally different yet the "L" number. Most plecs brought into NZ are without a designated "L" number. This is often because we get in unidentified or hard to identify fish, that without an L number is worth less. Ironically importation rules here might reject a fish that is too well described, . "L" numbers are mostly assigned in an unofficial manner here by keen hobbyists. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/nu ... &thumbs=16 This is stats from their site Today's Cat-eLog Statistics: 38 families 395 genera 2360 species 10925 images This is the L number Mecca.

The fish scottie mentions are L270 chocolate Zebras and will get to 12-15cm tops in 4-5yrs of growth, so 1/2 of what you are wanting in size, but are cheap ($30-$50 and 2-4.5cm depending on who you buy from) for a fancy plec. You will also have a greater chance of breeding also. King Tiger L066 same family and gets little bigger and again a chance of breeding if you get a few juvi's to grow up. Magnums, Gold nuggets, Snowflakes,( Snowball is often given also but is wrong common name) will get to 30cm but there are few if any reported cases of tank breeding. Same for blue and Green phantoms. They will get to 20cm in the right tank. Your best chance is to track down some L25-Psuedacanthicus "Scarlet Pleco" or L114-Psuedacanthicus "Leopard Cactus" if any are still around, they were sold in numbers last year. I bought one of each purely for show and wish I'd got more. They get to 25cm, look wicked and will breed at 17cm. A pair of 25cm L25-"Scarlets" have bred in a 2ft tank before. There is a Hypostumus sp Cochliodon that also has common name "Scarlet pleco" . It reaches 25cm but again breeding in captivity is not recorded

Ahhh! . I'd say that L104 is rarer than L270 here at the moment so I'm wrapped for you. Those hypans will do it for you soon enough.

Stripped Red empress yesterday. 11 cuckoo's with no yolk sac happily free swimming. All Red empress fry already gone.