flash plecs almost breeding

[flatfish]

I have 4 flash plecs that I got several months ago: a mature male - he's 12 cm long, 4 cm wide, and just over three cm high; two mature females, and a smaller fish which is possibly another male.

They are in a six foot tank with discus and several corys. It used to be more heavily planted but recently I set it up for the plecs with heaps of bogwood and plenty of java fern and Anubias. The light levels are low and there is a large hollow log that the activities been happening around. I had planned on moving them to three foot tank to try breeding them but they had other ideas.

Recently, I'm not sure exactly when, the male started a cleaning frenzy on his log and cleaned all excess algae/detritus from the outside and presumably the inside of the log. Last Monday one of the females took up a position at the log entrance. She been there ever since and although she frequently gets pushed away by the male she only moves a few centimetres then moves straight back. I've been trying to fake a wet season with daily water changes including more recently a 5% RO change each evening, increased water flow, extra airstones to increase the DO, and temperature drops but the male still wont let her in. She looks slightly swollen and I'm sure shes holding a batch of eggs. The second female can occasionally be seen very close to the log as well.

Hopefully he'll decide to play ball shortly. Apparently a week is not unusual although its been a little longer. Any ideas?

[phyrestaata]

Thats great! keep updating if there is any progress. I have a group of these coming along nicely for breeding and I am very interested in how you are going with yours.

Good Luck

[fishboi]

sounds exciting, not much else u can do but wait as the first spawn is always the hardest. try just leaving them with out the water changes but still keeping the water clean of cause.

i have L226s well conditioned and displaying for well over 3 months with out any actual spawning so u never know......

[Faran]

Hi Darren,

Welcome to the forums, glad you (finally) made it!

Nice work on the first journal entry, will be excellent to follow progress on them. Don't get discouraged if nothing happens or the female suddenly goes skinny with no sign of spawning, they seem keen and I'm sure it's going to happen eventually!

I try and spawn my Ancistrus in portable caves so they can be moved once spawning has taken place. I find that the worst survival rates happen in community tanks with spawnings in permanent decoration, but that's usually due to predatory tankmates and filters that kill the fry. I'd definitely empty everything else out of the tank if a spawning takes place. Got a spare tank handy?

I really need to come for a visit!

Blue

[flatfish]

unfortunately I didn't have much choice on this one.

The male has a ceramic cave thats made to fit his dimensions right beside his log and is not interested in it. And as I said I was planning on moving the group out shortly to try them in a three foot tank.

If anything happens I can strip down the tank and remove most of the big occupants (discus) in a few minutes or lift the hood of and remove the log with the male inside (he usually wont leave it willingly when I've cleaned the tank out in the past). If the eggs are sticky I may get away with it.

[Steves Killies]

Not sure how your filters are set up in or around your tank but how about increasing the flow of water directly against the entrance to the ceramic tunnel?

or.. add brine shrimp,mosquito wrigglers in conjunction with your water changes, which may trigger a response due to increased water and food avaliability.

Just a side question,what food do you feed them normally or for conditioning?I know they like plec tabs and zuchinni,but have you found they are fond of anything else?

Oh,and good luck

[Steves Killies]

Pardon me,i meant the log that hes cleaning,not the ceramic tunnel

[flatfish]

thanks for the advice Steve,

I tried putting a small powerhead aimed at the cave two days ago and scarred the shit out of the female (not good). It took her quite a while to come back. I might give it another go. They are getting plenty of food in the evenings but I dont think they are doing a lot of feeding, at least not while the lights are on or shortly afterwards, when I normally often see them.

As for food. They do love Hikari algae wafers and eat quite a few, and they will eat zuchini but don't appear to be overly fond of it (unlike my P. albomaculatus and P. changae which mow it down). They also not suprisingly eat heaps of bog wood. They do seem more omnivorous than my Panaque changae (L226), particularly I assume when they are conditioning up (the last few months). They primarily feed on algae wafers, but do eat any non-vege tucker I've tried them on (bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, discus tucker, shrimp pellets, flake, etc.), particularly the male which probably explains his awesome condition.

While we're on the subject of food. Fishboi, what do you feed your P. changae on? Mine eats heaps of zuchini and algae wafers but dont appear to touch anything thats not vegetable matter. Any new suggestions, even other veges to try.

[flatfish]

I do have photos of the female at the log entrance but don't know how to post them on the site.

[flatfish]

Just read an article on how to put photos in.

Here's some shots of the flash plecs. The light levels are low but they still stand out well.

Note how clean the log is and the female also looks fairly broad across the back.

female at entrance to hollow log

male and female

I just tried introducing the powerhead again and again scarred her. Hopefully she'll be back in the morning but I think thats the last time I try introducing it.

[fishboi]

While we're on the subject of food. Fishboi, what do you feed your P. changae on? Mine eats heaps of zuchini and algae wafers but dont appear to touch anything thats not vegetable matter. Any new suggestions, even other veges to try.

i mix my own in a blender than freeze. [fish, shrimp, brine shrimp, tucker, and all different types of veges]

why would it scare her? if the flow is coming from the other side she shouldn't feel the current at all.

beautiful looking plecs by the way. nice pic.

[flatfish]

thanks for the food tips, sounds like your L226's like a bit of high protein as well.

The female flash was scarred by the powerhead as I placed it about 20 cm from, and to one side, of her, at the bottom of the log as that's were all the actions been. She came back for a while but didn't seem to like the current flow which was fairly gentle. I dont think shes back yet but its hard to tell as the lights aren't on. She'd been sitting there for 11 days and may have been starting to lose her keenness anyway. It might be time to start think about a moving the group to a three foot tank where a 5% water change doesn't mean 20+ litres of water.

[flatfish]

well the female was back at the log today but has been spending a bit of time away and is eating. I will continue with the RO changes for a few more days yet but I think she is beginning to get sick of the males reluctance to participate (she's not the only one). I suspect that she'll soon be resorbing the eggs into her system but you never know your luck. At least they were both well conditioned, she was keen for over a week, and any activities got to be promising for the future. The fact that she kept on coming back to the front of the log, even after several interuptions by me, suggests she was rather keen.

I might try housing the male by himself for a while. He can stake out a territory and do his own thing. Then I'll introduce the two females. Should be interesting.