Spawning the L-201 Hypancistrus Inspector Pleco by Charles Drew
I first heard of the Inspector Pleco being bred in an article on the internet. Seeing pictures of this pretty four inch male fish that is black with whitish to yellowish spots guarding a clutch of eggs made me put it on my want list. I did some research and found that this fish comes from the Upper Rios Orinoco and Negro in Venezuela. It is a carnivore feeding on small shrimp and aquatic insects. It has indeed been named the Hypancistrus inspector. In the fall of 2005 I saw some fish in a store that looked like the L-201 but they were being called snowballs. When I asked for an L number I was given one that was for a much larger species that has much larger spots. I went home without them but came back a few days later with a picture to compare them with. Now sure that they were wrong I bought six. I took them home and after a PH check placed them in a 55 gallon tank with four King Tiger Plecos and three Discus. The Inspectors made them selves at home and in no time were trying to push their way into the caves of the King Tigers. It wasn’t long before I decided to convert a 65 gallon tank to a river tank with lots of current in hopes of getting them to spawn. I bought _ “ plastic pipe 2 power heads and 3 large sponge filters. I connected it all together to draw the water from one end and discharging it from the power heads back to the sponges creating a one way flow. All the piping was covered with several inches of a silica natural gravel. The tank was then decorated with a large piece of cedar driftwood fastened to a piece of slate. I placed two slate caves and several clay saucer caves at several locations as well as some lava rock. After a week of ageing I moved in the Inspectors and after a look around all found their own place to call home.
Wanting to spawn these fish I soon found myself softening the water by replacing changed water with RO water. The temperature was 84 degrees F and everybody seemed happy but no spawning. I added an outside power filter to create even more current. Still nothing happened. Finally I decided that they were either too young or that it may be off season for them. Laziness took over and I did not change water as often and went back to just using tap water with the hose. Then one day in May I was showing a friend and fellow fish club member my fish when the beam of the flashlight revealed a small clutch of large eggs in one of the caves. In a combination of delight and panic for fear of something going wrong I emailed a person that I new was raising this pleco. I was assured that the adults did not harm the fry and that they could be reared in the tank with the parents. Also I was told they only had six fry at a time. But unfortunately one persons success and observations do not always work out for you. The eggs take Five days to hatch and the fry can start leaving the cave as soon as seven days after that. My fry left the cave and disappeared a few days later. The only other tank occupants were a dozen Cardinal Tetras. All filter inlets were covered with sponges. This made me draw the conclusion that there was a cannibal in the tank. Perhaps females eat the fry the same as do female Whiptail Catfish.
Spawnings slowed for a few weeks and I had managed to salvage six fry that are doing well and are now over an inch long. After a good tap water change or two I soon could see a spawning in a cave. When the fry’s backs had darkened and they were getting noticeably active I decided to empty the cave. The male dumped out into a net easily but the fry had to be flushed out into a bowl with a kitchen baster. To my surprise and delight out came 25 fry. They still had a bit of yolk sack and so they were floated in the bowl with an air stone and given water changes from the parents tank. All went well until I started to feed them. I started them on newly hatched brine shrimp and micro worms. Soon they started to die. All died in a few days except for one. I thought about what I might have done wrong. The only culprit that I could come up with was the micro worms. It was either the bacteria from the culture or else the worms had invaded the gills or intestines. I soon had a chance to test my theory as the other male had a cave of fry. I flushed them out and found that I had 26 this time. All went well and soon they were eating newly hatched baby brine shrimp that I rinsed with fresh water. I had never rinsed brine shrimp before in my over 50 years of raising fish but decided to take no chances. I soon move them to their own ten gallon bare tank with a PVC pipe and a broken clay flower pot to hide under. I then empted number one cave again for 15 more fry. Since then I emptied both caves at the same time as they had both spawned on the same weekend. One cave had 30 and the other had 28 fry. So far I have not lost a single fry since I cut out the micro worms.
The road to success is not always easy which makes it a great learning experience. I truly believe that all fish can be bred if given the right conditions and good food. My fish are conditioned and maintained by being fed Mysis Shrimp, Carnivore Wafers and Sera Catfish Chips. A healthy fish has to spawn if the other conditions are made right.
Registered: June 2006 Location: Haliburton, ON Posts: 614
: Tue December 12, 2006
Would you recommend the Species? Yes |
Price you paid?: $10.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Great little fish :)
Cons:
none other then slow grower
I purchased 8 of these little guys off of Charlie a couple months ago. They have been eating virtually everything and continue to grow. Although slow they are growing steadly. Easy to keep, would recommend for anyone.
------------------------------ CanadaPleco.com
Lots of pleco's living in my house. Now also a bunch of Discus.
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