Keeping and Breeding Hypancistrus sp. L333
Keeping and Breeding Hypancistrus sp. L333
Written by Saturday, 29 November 2008 00:00
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I was not planning to acquire L333s. I got my first fish in a moment of weakness. I was half regretting the acquisition by the time I arrived home but it was too late, so I put the young fish (no bigger than 5 cm TL at the time) in my Hypancistrus tank. I was watching carefully to notice the spot it would run for cover; I do that with all new fish just to keep an eye on them during the first few days and ensure they are not being bullied by my existing boisterous crowd. Well, here was a surprise: the fish did not run for cover. At first he situated himself comfortably on an anubia leaf and stayed there for a while. A little later he started exploring the tank. My experience with Hypancistrus up to that point was quite different; L46s, L260s and L262s are all quite private fish, rarely to be seen in the open.
A couple of days later the fish was on the prowl. He explored the tank thoroughly, sticking his nose even in places he was clearly not welcome. That earned him his name, Nosey. Nosey was the first to get to the food, always visible in the tank, always exploring. When the inhabitants of this tank joined my 1200 lit tank to grow out Nosey did not change his behaviour in the slightest. He ignored the much bigger catfish there and continued with his usual activities. He had no problem whatsoever challenging much bigger fish or trying to share food with them. Needless to say not even my belligerent female L25, Treasure Island, ever tried to pick a fight with him.
The fish was growing at a really good rate, considering he was a Hypancistrus. I soon had to consider his future: what was I to do with him? At the time he had a pretty attractive colouration consisting of black and golden stripes and was extremely active and quite entertaining. I decided to keep him and start an L333 breeding colony.
Choosing the fish that would go with Nosey was not easy. The pattern and colour of this fish varies widely. It took me a couple of years to end up with a satisfactory colony which consisted of 3 males and 6 females: Nosey, Munchies, Chase, Charmer, Huntress, Sweetie, Ashley, Snowie and Dew. The fish were excellent eaters, more often than not seen out in the open, quite active and generally talking noticeable by their lack of the typical Hypancistrus behaviour. As opposed to my Hypancistrus zebra, who were also growing up at the same tank, they did not occupy a particular area in the tank. Each of them chose their own space and they were seen all over the place.
I left the fish in the 1200 lit tank until they were about 12 cm TL; at the time they had been in my tanks for about 2 years. I then moved them to a smaller tank to breed. The tank was 149 lit (122 x 33 x 37 cm, l x w x h) and was shared with a colony of L260s. The fish stayed in this tank for over a year; their appearance indicated they were sexually mature but there were no breeding attempts made.
This tank differed from my other tanks in that:
- it was located under a window and there was lots of natural light getting in the tank from the front and the top glass
- it was located in a part of the house where controlling the temperature was quite difficult. Despite the two heaters in it the temperature tended to fluctuate in winter, while in the summer the tank was getting extremely hot (32oC was not unusual)
- it was long but narrow, so the caves only measured 10 x 3 x 2.5cm (l x w x h, internal dimensions)
- it was quite swallow
- the wood in it was mainly mopani
I stipulated the problem may have been either the size of the caves (they were a bit on the tight side) or the natural light. I have never been successful breeding fish in this tank. I have moved breeding colonies there and the minute they joined this tank all fish stopped breeding. So I moved the colony again to larger, dedicated, quarters, to allow me to use bigger caves for them. The new tank was 258 lit (122cm x 46cm x 46 cm - l x w x h), furnished with medium sized pieces of bogwood and 4 slate caves with inside dimensions 2 inch wide, 1.5 inch tall and 7 inch long. The caves were all arranged in a row, facing the flow of the water and were separated by pieces of bogwood and plants. The entrance of each cave was sheltered under a piece of wood. The tank was planted with anubia barteri v. nana, microsorum pteropus (java fern), Echinodorus aquartica, Cardamine lyrata and had floating ceratofyllum demersum to absorb nitrates. The substrate was aquarium sand (quartz). The tank was serviced by two Blue Modular internal filters (1200 lit / h each) attached to one side of the tank, one with a spraybar attachment and one with the normal nozzle, both with venturis. With regards to the water turnover in the tank it should be noted that the performance of all pumps deteriorate with time. On paper, the turnover of this tank is slightly under 10 times per hour; in reality it is 5-6 times per hour. The flow under the wood and rocks where the caves are is considerably slower than at the top of the tank. Aeration was additionally delivered by a Tetratec APS 400-600 lit with two outputs, each in either side of the tank, while lighting was provided by a twin Arcadia lighting unit (55W). The lighting period in the summer is 13 hours (11 am to 12 pm) while in the winter it is reduced to 11 hours (12 am to 11 pm). The temperature of the tank was set to 27oC; the water parameters were KH 3, pH 7.2, GH 4.
The colony settled in their new home immediately; two of the males occupied the middle caves straight away while the younger one could not quite made his mind up and was often seen with the females under the wood. I started feeding a combination of Blue Line Basic 122, Ocean Nutrition Marine formula 1 (small), Tetra Tabimin and Dr Basleer Tropic. Twice a week the fish were getting frozen bloodworm (I have never fed the fish in this tank live food). This represented a change in the diet of the fish as they no longer had the weekly treat of mussel, cockle and prawn they were getting in the big tank.
Within a week my Echinodorus aquartica and Cardamine lyrata were gone. I planted new shoots but these did not last either. When I gave up planting I noticed small bites on the leaves of the java fern. I added Blue Line Bottom Spiru twice a week to the menu and since then the attacks on the plants stopped.
Behaviour wise I noticed with this colony what I have previously noticed with the L46; once they were moved to a smaller, dedicated tank, they stopped moving around the tank as much as they did in the bigger tank. The females would spend their day under the wood while the males were mostly in their caves. This became the rule as the fish grew.
I let the colony settle for about 5-6 months and in October 2006 I started preparing them to spawn. I went through the usual routine; I fed frozen bloodworm twice weekly, raised the tank temperature to 30oC, stopped the water changes for 4 weeks then did a massive water change (over 70% of the water) using fresh water about 4 degrees cooler than the existing tank water and replaced the filter media. I then let the temperature rise to 28oC and waited for the results. There were no results. I waited for a couple of months, then tried again. This time I increased the bloodworm portions to three times weekly and waited for one more week prior to doing the big water change with cooler water. Again no results.
I repeated the same routine in February, for the third time. This time I also switched the lights off entirely for a whole week (the tank was still partially lit during day time by the ambient light from the other tanks in this room) then let them come on for a few hours initially, gradually increasing the lighting period. Still no luck. I was really surprised as L333 are supposed to be an 'easy' fish to spawn. Easy or difficult this colony would just not oblige. So I decided to upset them a bit in case this kick-started them. I added 3 new wild caught individuals in the tank, all similar size to my youngest male, Chase, and all sexually mature. A week later I saw one of my males, Munchies, having locked another fish in the cave. I was absolutely delighted!!
I was checking the tank twice daily but there was no sign of the 'female' coming out of the cave. What was even more perplexing was that I could see all my females under the wood (I can recognise the fish by their markings as well as the place they rest; they all have their own preferred spots). So I assumed that one of the new girls was in the cave with Munchies.
Five days later I could only see Munchies in the cave. The position of his body, however, was not the typical position of a male guarding eggs. I decided to lift the top of the cave to see what was going on. To my complete and utter surprise I saw Munchies resting face in and in front of him, stuck at the back of the cave, were the remains of the new male!
There were more sparks in the tank when I put another male Hypancistrus in temporarily (given that the new male L333 was dead I somehow had to keep the momentum so I added a fish from one of my other tanks). The newcomer was taken on by my smaller male, Chase, who decided he wanted his cave. There were 4 caves in the tank and Chase has never previously expressed an interest in any of them, at least not that I have observed. On this instance he decided he wanted the cave of the newcomer (which was the last in the row, near the side glass, and therefore the one most hit by the light and with little current). Thankfully the new boy stuck to his guns and Chase was soon given to understand that he had to occupy the only remaining cave, the one closest to the pumps.
Obviously I cannot know what was going on in the tank during the times I was not present. Having said that I noticed that the new male was very watchful; for a long period of time (about 2 months) he did not rest inside his cave like other males did. He was constantly barring the entrance with his body (as in the first photo above) watching what was going on around him. In front of the caves there is a wide empty space for the fish to move around and eat. As far as the new male was concerned, every fish in the tank was free to use this space for moving, resting, eating or exploring the tank. The only fish who was actively chased away was Chase, who happened to be the only male and, of course, a contender; the minute Chase attempted to pass through the space in front of the cave there were fights. Since Chase surrendered to the idea of occupying the last free cave peace came to the tank. It is important to note that by 'every fish in the tank' above I refer to the females only. The males were in their caves and I have never seen them going out for a stroll. When they did come out to eat they would remain in their territory, which is clearly marked by the pieces of wood surrounding each cave. (1)
In April 2007 all the males were settled in their caves but there was still no spawns. The fish were growing bigger and chubbier and as they were doing so they were losing some of their colouration, becoming more and more drab. I tried again, one more time, to trigger a spawn, this time dropping the pH considerably. Still no results.
At the end of May I had to go on a business trip for a week. I had already given up hopes for a spawn, at least during that particular season. All my fish have started spawning during the winter months and I tend to believe that the low atmospheric pressure may have something to do with it. So I returned the tank to normal water conditions and temperature (27oC, pH 7.6, KH3, GH 4-5) and resumed the normal maintenance and feeding routine, excluding the frozen bloodworm.
I was flying off on the 23rd of May 2007. On the 21st of May (Monday) in the evening I did a 60% water change to all my tanks (including the L333 one), using fresh water at the same temperature as the one in the tank. I changed the sponges of one of the two internal filters and added two heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda to get the KH to 5, just to be on the safe side while I was away. The pH was 7.6 while the GH was 5 (with the addition of Discus Minerals). I fed the fish well on Monday and Tuesday night with staple food. I was booked to return on Tuesday the 29th of May and during this week the fish would be fed very small portions (half their usual quantity) only twice, once every 3 days.
As it happened I prolonged my stay by one day and I returned on Wedensday the 30th of May late at night. By the time I got home the lights were off, so I only checked the big tanks to make sure everything was ok. Next day, before leaving for work, I checked the other tanks with a torch. Imagine my surprise when I saw Munchies fanning eggs!!!
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