Duncan7

Thanks. No didnt ask about feeding sorry (kinda seems obvious now!), will do if i get back in.

Thanks, yeah thats kinda what i thought aswell, i thought the noses looked female, but im very new to this! They had been in the fish shop for a couple of weeks, bright lights, small 2' tank each, without much cover, thinking they may not have eaten and possibly lost a bit of condition.

Heres the two i grabbed, Very happy with them! More pic happy for the first... People may like to offer suggestions of the sexes, i thought i had id sorted, but each time i look at the pics i change my mind!!! Number 1: And the 2nd one:

And the shape of the nose, very slight differences, male rounder nose ?broader head and more slender body, female pointier nose, smaller head width and fuller/fatter body. To anyone interested there are still two more of these fish at world of water in hamilton, same size 6-7' in size and only $80. If you get them id be interested in keeping in touch to track their progress... ?possible breeding project...

Cheers man, grabbed two, slightly smaller than i initially may have mentioned well closer to 6' than 7', but still a good size, took the ones with the IMO best colour, did take a couple of pics of them before i released them, they spent the night in the same area of the tank as eachother, no agro at all. Apparently they were in the same tank before they went to the pet shop. There were 4 living together.. Although two different sales people said different things. One said separate, one said together... Who knows, but they seem sweet together. Love them, Hooked! Will get the pics up soon.

Yeah saw that, very nice fish! AND Free!!!

Thanks guys I think they are great plecs, love the colour and the eventual size of them. Definately going to get one, maybe two still deciding, will try not to get two males if i go the latter. Given that i probably cant grab them out of the tank to really look at head/body shape are the pectoral odontodes probably the best bet for sexing? I see their carnivorous nature as a plus in my tank as there is always lots of hikari sinking gold going in for the two delhezis and the sun cats after lights out. So they should be right as rain. http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/d713xvWjqhU&hl=en& WOW! Nice, looks like a pretty large tank!

True, yeah well that was the next thing, im sure they are sexable, im not sure i can sex them, but what combo would be best for me, breeding aside... 2 males, one M one F, or two females??? Assuming i could pick em.

Yeah sorry man you have lost even me with creating cuban hybrids.... really why?

Been thinking of grabbing one/two for a little while, think they are awesome, have been doing my research, but looking here for individuals thoughts/experiences. Have the opportunity to buy a couple of 6-7 inch long L144's. They have not been kept together. I have read that they are an aggressive territorial pleco, but have read other people say that they are not that bad? I have a 650liter tank 180cmx60cmx60cm sumped and with an FX5 stocked with large SA cichlids jags, Red devil, JD etc, a red spot and a gold spot pleco, couple of sun catfish. Have 3 good sized bits of driftwood, and have large ceramic pipes (old drain pipes, 5 inch diameter) i can put in too. Id like to get more than one L144 if posible, but is it worth the risk? Im prepared to let the common plecos go if that would be best. Not really worried about breeding them, have read its possible, but im not really that experienced with plecos... Anyway.. Peoples thoughts? Could i get more than one? TIA Duncan.

Shot man, congrats.

Get the pearls from the flowerhorn and the red from the festae... nice. Should get one of the blue imported flowerhorns in there next!!

Maybe add an extra handfull of grit since your tank will be about 2000 odd litres! Just to be safe lol Problem is since your dealing with eventually such a large volume of water you dont want to be spending on chemicals/buffers each time you do a waterchange... Will get costly... Need a more permanent solution, like you say wood, and the suggested grit/coral? Put a small coral reef in your water tank? Your on rain water now yeah? How does a concrete tank effect the water chem? At my parents place the water always came out alkaline, but the driftwood brought it right back down.

Jack has some big bins?

put the male with the festae... pretty please?

Mine sometimes used to get slightly cloudy eyes, never knew if it was water change related or because of the dats, but they always seemed to recover with time.... and a water change..

LOL, hows does yours work?

Yep should do.

Wow, Awesome tank, was it built locally? who did the cabinet? im thinking of building a custom tank and stand. TIA Duncan.

Yeah massive import setup, I heard they have 15 acres of land and over 15,000 tanks?! But yeah its not such a big deal holding them together when they are 2cm long.... :roll:

Yeah doing well, few nics etc, still dont really like each other! Even the large girl got some damage on her fins, but im guessing thats because she is having a go at someone bigger!!!!

There are two are in a 700l and one in a 350l. Im probably only going to keep one when they get bigger. They dont get on with eachother that well.

Sounds awesome, ill have to come for a look.

?? Breeding room... sweet?! Explain?

True that, you need a decent tank for them, mine are in the 6 footer (650L) as part of a community of big cichlids, although they had a 4x2x2 foot 350L to themselves to breed in. They are awesome parents and a really tight couple, stick together even when in with a larger male jag, such awesome fish, i would eventually like to have them permanently in a 500 or 600L by themselves.