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Hi all !
My favorits among the catfish thats hypancistrus are the small ones 8-12 cm give or take 5 cm, and beside the obvious L-046 I like the L-066, L-260, L-270 and L-333 and several more I guess, and I see that people keep them together.
But what about crossbreeding, what are the actual chances, I have seen the matter discussed on PlanetCatfish, but some say "not 2 hypancistrus species in the same tank" some say that you can keep some of them together, what are your opinion on the matter.

With Cristmass greetings
Stræde

Hi Stræde,

It depends on what your looking to achieve. If you are aiming to breed your zebras then I would say keep them in a speices tank so as to avoid competion for food, territories or breeding spots. However if this is not your goal they should be fine coexisting with other hypancistrus species.
There is always the chance of hybridisation when closely related species are kept together.

Just my thoughts.

Hi Straede,
I have one tank where L46, L134, L260, L333 ,L177, L47 etc are kept together without any problems with feeding. There are enough caves and wood for them to use to hide in. However when ready to breed would try and put each Hypancistrus variety in its own species tank.
Have recently seen a Hypancistrus hybrid on The Hypancistrus page on Planet catfish, which I believe was an unplanned hybridisation.
Regards,
Des.