Panaque maccus (L104) "Clown Pleco"
Tank Parameters
PH:7.6
TDS:220
Temp:27dC
Tank size:L 6ft*W 3ft*H 1ft
Tank volume:410ltrs
Tank setup
The tank has many pieces of driftwood and bogwood thrown in.
Also many different sized caves.
No substrate No rocks
Filtration
Sump filtration 80ltrs, Pump 4500ltrs per hr
Even with this high level of filtration the water is a tea stained yellowish colour. When doing a water change the water looks like soup as there is always alot of debries aswell as planeria and daphina.
Tank mates
12*L183 Australian Peppermint
I have a colony of 9 L104's. By my best guess there are 5 males and 3 females. All are fully grown the females are larger and fatter than the males. They only spawn in caves that are just big enough for them to fit in.
I have added a fry tank to the main tank to house the fry that i have found. In this small tank i have 2 airstones and a handfull of cherry shrimp. The eggs are large and bright orange so they are very easy to spot. In about 10 days you will see eyes and a tail forming on one side of the egg(pictured below). Soon after that the tail seperates from the egg and the egg can now move about in a haphazard manner. Over the next few days the fry will be able to get around with the egg still attached. As the eggs gets smaller the fry will start to colour up(up until this point they are an albino colour) and when the egg dissapears they will be a full miniture of the parents about 1cm long. I have found very often they kick eggs out early. So you need a good egg tumbler if you want to save the eggs. I used a few different egg tumblers with no success until i simply added the eggs to the fry tank and they all seem fine so far. Without an egg tumbler I would have 7 fry in 1 month with an effective egg tumbling method I could have had about 25+ fry in the same time. I have found them to be average parents and to have good success you will need to interveen. Also they are easily spooked so try not to shine a torch up the cave to check on them. I do daily water changes of about 40 ltrs and fortnightly 120ltrs as they are a very messy and go through a heap of wood.
Enjoy the pics,
Tank Parameters
PH:7.6
TDS:220
Temp:27dC
Tank size:L 6ft*W 3ft*H 1ft
Tank volume:410ltrs
Tank setup
The tank has many pieces of driftwood and bogwood thrown in.
Also many different sized caves.
No substrate No rocks
Filtration
Sump filtration 80ltrs, Pump 4500ltrs per hr
Even with this high level of filtration the water is a tea stained yellowish colour. When doing a water change the water looks like soup as there is always alot of debries aswell as planeria and daphina.
Tank mates
12*L183 Australian Peppermint
I have a colony of 9 L104's. By my best guess there are 5 males and 3 females. All are fully grown the females are larger and fatter than the males. They only spawn in caves that are just big enough for them to fit in.
I have added a fry tank to the main tank to house the fry that i have found. In this small tank i have 2 airstones and a handfull of cherry shrimp. The eggs are large and bright orange so they are very easy to spot. In about 10 days you will see eyes and a tail forming on one side of the egg(pictured below). Soon after that the tail seperates from the egg and the egg can now move about in a haphazard manner. Over the next few days the fry will be able to get around with the egg still attached. As the eggs gets smaller the fry will start to colour up(up until this point they are an albino colour) and when the egg dissapears they will be a full miniture of the parents about 1cm long. I have found very often they kick eggs out early. So you need a good egg tumbler if you want to save the eggs. I used a few different egg tumblers with no success until i simply added the eggs to the fry tank and they all seem fine so far. Without an egg tumbler I would have 7 fry in 1 month with an effective egg tumbling method I could have had about 25+ fry in the same time. I have found them to be average parents and to have good success you will need to interveen. Also they are easily spooked so try not to shine a torch up the cave to check on them. I do daily water changes of about 40 ltrs and fortnightly 120ltrs as they are a very messy and go through a heap of wood.
Enjoy the pics,
