help breeding l129 false zebra plecos

[Austin R]

Im fixing to get my first batch of l129s. I've done my research on them and found what I can learn about them online is there any tips or tricks to get them to breed and what caves do y'all recommend for them. I've been breeding Bristlenose for a while now im wanting to go with something difrent.

Any help will be great

Thank y'all

[Andy's Fish Den]

I haven't bred this particular species, but it is a Hypancistrus species so, I would guess that like others of the same genus, they take a while to reach sexual maturity, sometimes a couple years, feed well, don't move them around much. Hypancistrus like a lot of meaty food in diet, bloodworms, brine shrimp. 

[Austin R]

Thank you That's what i was figuring as well. I have never messed with them before i figured try something cheaper then the lepared frogs or zebras

[Fish Folk]

Beautiful Plecos! No experienced advice here... we’d probably just be sure to stock with lots of aged wood. Leaf litter may help some too. Competitorslink may be able to set you up with native pods, etc. 

[FrostiesFishes]

I’d get this book it’s the single best thing I can think of for plecos, and helpful when trying to ID L number plecos.  also the fish room tours of Eric Bodrock on YouTube are full of good pleco/corydoras breeding/keeping advice. But in a nut shell PH doesn't seem to matter as much as clean,high flow and typically warm water.  And some of these fish seem to breed seasonally in the spring and fall. But you can try fake them out with adjusting light cycles but IMO the barometric pressure seems to be key when they want to spawn. 

[gardenman]

In general with plecos, feeding them a lot is the big key. Like a lot of other fish, if they think their babies will starve they just won't breed. They need to believe there's ample food, even too much, to breed. Baby plecos eat what the adults do so you don't have to flood the tank with baby brine shrimp, infusoria, or anything, just lots of their normal food. My bristlenose plecos love Wardley shrimp pellets, canned green beans (just the $.50 cent cans from Walmart seem fine for them), freeze dried Tubifex worms pressed against the glass, Repashy Soilent Green, and whatever flake food manages to sneak past the ravenous swordtails above them. Don't be overly effective in cleaning up the mulm on the bottom of the tank. Baby plecos love the stuff and I think it helps motivate the parents to breed. You're not trying to create a sterile environment as much as something the plecos would like. Leaves, cones, and natural litter, along with live plants all could help also.

As to pleco caves, you can try a variety. I've mostly used PVC pipe with endcaps for my bristlenose plecos, but I just added the terra cotta plant watering spikes to my tanks (I bought eight on for $13.49) and the plecos really seem to like them. I put two in every tank and some of my older males have already claimed caves and been cleaning them and guarding them. (In just about eighteen hours.) I've got a lone immature male in my 10 gallon quarantine tank sitting three feet to my right and he's in the plant watering spike cleaning away as I type this. There's no female around for him to woo and two caves, but he's picked the one he likes the best and is working like mad on it. I may have to scoop up a female companion for him from my big tank otherwise he'll be wasting all of his energy for nothing.

Some people recommend the addition of cooler water and doing so just before a big storm hits the area, but I've never done that and stopping mine from breeding is harder than getting them to breed. I keep getting distracted watching my quarantine tank male cleaning his cave. I may have to get him some company.

I've currently got about 110 baby Super Red Bristlenose plecos in my breeder box and they're getting a dime-size piece of Repashy Soilent green (about 1/4" thick) every morning and afternoon, along with a single canned green bean split in half lengthwise. (They seem to have a hard time puncturing the skin of the green bean at this size (half inch to five eights inch long) but they love the stuff inside it. In a few hours only the outer skin remains. They get two to three shrimp pellets and a few flakes of flake food and occasionally a coupe of nuggets of Tetracolor granules. Their breeder box is connected to an over filtered tank behind them and water circulates through the breeder box, so I don't worry about overfeeding them. They've got a nice layer of mulm built up in there and they seem to love to meander through it. 

I'd try to get a good-sized colony (six or more) put in lots of caves of various types, sizes, and whatnot, feed them a ton, and then hang around and wait to see what happens. Don't worry about keeping the tank spotless. Let mulm build up. Keep the water quality decent. Let nature take its course. I really believe food is the big key though. A starving fish is far less likely to be breeding than a fat, happy, overfed fish. I'm still watching that young male clean the cave. He just swatted out a plant snail. I may have to kidnap a female from my big tank for him, Here's a photo of him in his newly claimed terra cotta plant watering spike/cave.