Oh Sid don't dispair there is always the next time I have all the queens (9 in total) in a 48x24x24 tank. The nice thing about queens are they don't seem to have the terrritorial disbutes and all get on rather well. Its actually very funny to see them lined up (even the girlies) in their brick caves. Each brick has 3 holes and at the moment their are no vancancies. I have tryed making other slate caves for them but they just ignor them and go back in their brick At some point I will have to get to grips with a digital camera and take a pic or too!
Diane
P.S
When you do get some eggs you definatly won't miss them..they are the biggest I have seen from any plec..I'd say at least as big a a pea.
I would love to see some pics of your tank and fry and stuff.
Well 3 females and 1 male ordered from trimar......will be here on Friday.........so fingers xed it will gee up the other pair.......would plasic pipes do for caves?
sid...........perfection dont come easy ,but i get by
I'm sorry Sid It's a bit of a downer when they fool you like that isn't it! but like Zeberdy says - there's always the next time, especialy now that you're getting more of this beautiful catfish
I've learned so much about them from this thread. Very interesting as I have two of them, but both are way to small to breed.
Ahhhhh well...............just got in 3 females and a male to go with my other pair,put them in a bigger tank ,so will see what happens.............got em from trimar .....and the quality is superb................even pushed the boat out for two L46 females too......................Rob ,where me male lol?
sid...........perfection dont come easy ,but i get by
Hi Sid! I wish I'd found this thread earlier, but hopefully I can be of some help now. Give that male back the cave he can trap the female inside of. He needs to be able to prove to her he can protect the fry or she won't spawn. 4 days is not excessive for a first go round, mine were in 3, then the female fought for 3 more trying to get past the male again. Definitely not an unusual thing for them to spend a long time in there. They won't always, but occasionally mine still do.
In order to stimulate mine to spawn, I put them through a rainy season of 5-7 days of water changes with RO water that is cold enough to drop the tank temp 8-10 degrees. This radically drops the TDS and they usually spawn a few days after I stop with the rains. I've had them spawn after just one big change with cooler water also, when I wasn't actually trying to stimulate them. Heck, the main trio spawned once when I RAISED the TDS in order to work on a rainy season the next week for them. I've tried the changes with cooler water and no change in TDS and wasn't nearly as successful.
It's very neat to look in and see the little faces peeking back at you from under dad's wing
I have one female with an almost completely colored stomach, but as a general rule, all of the rest have followed the guidelines. I guess she didn't read the book!
I removed a trio from the original group of 8 and put them in a smaller tank. The tank has one cave for the male that is 1.5 times his body width, and just tall enough he can get in without his dorsal up, and 2.5 inches longer than his body. For him, that is 2.25 inches wide, 1.25 tall, and 6.5 inches long. They have spawned 6 times now, and my largest spawn was 30 fry.
I had been told that only one male per tank would spawn, so imagine my surprise when in the main tank full of Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi fry, Ancistrus claro, and a few spare zebras, I found 2 males with eggs in their caves. The tank is a 4 foot, 55 gallon, so there shouldn't have been enough floor space to have two males dominant enough, but there definitely was 2 spawns at the same time.
sid wrote:Ahhhhh well...............just got in 3 females and a male to go with my other pair,put them in a bigger tank ,so will see what happens.............got em from trimar .....and the quality is superb................even pushed the boat out for two L46 females too......................Rob ,where me male lol?
Hi Sid
How big were the queens this time? I was thinking of picking up a couple of zebras but then I saw the price I think its about time Rob started to supply us all with some
Hi Diane
They are all around the 3 inch mark,and very very nice,far better markings than the ones I have ,seems the smaller the fish ,the better the marking...................did you find that with yours?
sid...........perfection dont come easy ,but i get by
I must admit the Tri-Mar ones do seem to be a nice color but my older ones all seem to be different shades that go from black to gray paterns. This may be my imagination but my males always look darker.
Hi,
Just bought 3 adult pairs of L260 today, But all of them including the males had clear (white) on the undersides of the fish . I almost didnt buy them , thinking that they were all females, since all L260's in the tank had white bellies. But on closer inspection noticed that the males had longer "whiskers" and longer odontodes on the leading pectoral and much thicker leading pectorals.
Has anyone else noticed that their male L260's have a clear (white)underneath instead of the normal mottling?.
Des.
I realise my group of six are juvenilles but they all have white undersides. I put this down to them not being mature but you've made me think now? Did you get yours from Tri-mar?
Hi Tom26000,
I got them from an advert in Aquarist classifieds ,based in S.London. A bargain at £17each.Discounts for qty purchases.He had 3 more adult males and a couple of youngsters ( in case anyone is interested).Very pretty too.
I also bought 2 L177 (Golden nuggets)with the large spots and yellow seam on the dorsal and tail fins.
The L260's I got from Trimar appear to be a sub/different species?Will try and post a picture soon.The eyes are also different to the norm on this species and look a little evil.
Enzo will also be getting some zebras in about 3 weeks hopefully, Priced@ around £70 or just under, cheaper than any shops around.
Regards,
Des.
I have all the queens (9 in total) in a 48x24x24 tank. The nice thing about queens are they don't seem to have the terrritorial disbutes and all get on rather well. Its actually very funny to see them lined up (even the girlies) in their brick caves. Each brick has 3 holes and at the moment their are no vancancies. I have tryed making other slate caves for them but they just ignor them and go back in their brick 
At some point I will have to get to grips with a digital camera and take a pic or too!
It's a bit of a downer when they fool you like that isn't it! but like Zeberdy says - there's always the next time, especialy now that you're getting more of this beautiful catfish 
I think its about time Rob started to supply us all with some 
