Royal Pleco Compatibility/Interbreeding?

[David R]

After years (decades?) of frustration of getting unhealthy specimens that quickly died I finally got a couple larger ... ones that made it and I've had them over 5 years now and they've barely even grown.

That doesn't sound right, I would expect that at 3" they should be growing fairly rapidly [in Panaque terms! Not like RTC...] if they're healthy and housed properly.

June 2012, 6cm;

July 2013, 18-20cm;

Haven't got a current pic that shows the size, but he's getting closer to 30cm 18 months after being added to the 2000L tank. The three other L190 in the tank have all shown similar growth rates, it certainly slowed at around 20-25cm, but they are still growing slowly.


IMO; The biggest problem is tank size, or more specifically tanks size in relation to the size of the fish. Some fish grow like mad regardless of tank size, others don't. 25cm oscars and pacus in 30g tanks are [sadly] fairly common amongst inexperienced keepers, 25cm clown loaches or royal plecs on the other hand, are not. Some fish will physically outgrow a tank to the point where they can't turn around, others will stunt, shrivel and waste away while appearing to have "plenty" of room to move. Why this is I don't know, but I have witnessed it first hand with both Panaques and Clown Loaches. I've bought small Panaques that have spent a long time in the LFS's tiny tanks and have never had success with them. Where as the fish above was imported, quarantined, in the LFS for a couple of weeks, then straight into my 400L tank with a 140x65cm footprint. You can do all the water changes you please, add powerheads and feed like crazy, but I firmly believe that with some species there is no substitute for tank size. Your new L191 may look ok in that 29g tank, but I would guarantee they aren't going to grow as fast or as large as they whould in a bigger tank. If you wait until they look too big for the tank then it will be too late, they may never even get there at all.

I agree with Jer and the others that while you're unsettled and studying you'd be best to give up fishkeeping completely, or if you must then keep the 29g with some small species that won't ever outgrow the tank so you can hone your breeding skills. Raising and breeding L191 will be a VERY long term endeavour, believe me, I'm trying the same thing with L190. Don't risk stunting your fish for the sake of not being patient enough. Wait until you're settled (properly settled, employed, comfortable, and living somewhere you intend to stay for the next decade or two!) then set up the biggest widest tank you can afford, build a filter system that is capable of dealing with the huge amount of sawdust and mess they're going to make, and then buy your fish and watch them thrive from day one.

 

[giveneausername]

That doesn't sound right, I would expect that at 3" they should be growing fairly rapidly [in Panaque terms! Not like RTC...] if they're healthy and housed properly.

June 2012, 6cm;

July 2013, 18-20cm;

Haven't got a current pic that shows the size, but he's getting closer to 30cm 18 months after being added to the 2000L tank. The three other L190 in the tank have all shown similar growth rates, it certainly slowed at around 20-25cm, but they are still growing slowly.


IMO; The biggest problem is tank size, or more specifically tanks size in relation to the size of the fish. Some fish grow like mad regardless of tank size, others don't. 25cm oscars and pacus in 30g tanks are [sadly] fairly common amongst inexperienced keepers, 25cm clown loaches or royal plecs on the other hand, are not. Some fish will physically outgrow a tank to the point where they can't turn around, others will stunt, shrivel and waste away while appearing to have "plenty" of room to move. Why this is I don't know, but I have witnessed it first hand with both Panaques and Clown Loaches. I've bought small Panaques that have spent a long time in the LFS's tiny tanks and have never had success with them. Where as the fish above was imported, quarantined, in the LFS for a couple of weeks, then straight into my 400L tank with a 140x65cm footprint. You can do all the water changes you please, add powerheads and feed like crazy, but I firmly believe that with some species there is no substitute for tank size. Your new L191 may look ok in that 29g tank, but I would guarantee they aren't going to grow as fast or as large as they whould in a bigger tank. If you wait until they look too big for the tank then it will be too late, they may never even get there at all.

I agree with Jer and the others that while you're unsettled and studying you'd be best to give up fishkeeping completely, or if you must then keep the 29g with some small species that won't ever outgrow the tank so you can hone your breeding skills. Raising and breeding L191 will be a VERY long term endeavour, believe me, I'm trying the same thing with L190. Don't risk stunting your fish for the sake of not being patient enough. Wait until you're settled (properly settled, employed, comfortable, and living somewhere you intend to stay for the next decade or two!) then set up the biggest widest tank you can afford, build a filter system that is capable of dealing with the huge amount of sawdust and mess they're going to make, and then buy your fish and watch them thrive from day one.

Very valid points in there, the only thing I want to bring up is that the 29g would be essentially a qt tank, as I wouldn't have them in there for long at all. Also, I have recently found out that a friend's father used to build tanks and run a LFS, and has been looking for an excuse to set one or a few tanks up in the meanwhile and said he'd be willing to watch my fish. I'm going to sit down and talk with him and try to figure out what he's got available to him, but, from what I heard, he's got quite a few large tanks. The other thing is, he said that he'd be willing to help me build a large tank for myself once I get out of school, something very large, I mentioned something like 6'x3'x2' (~270 Gallons) to 8'x3'x2' (~350 Gallons). So, I have decided that I will not be keeping any Royals in my 75G while I'm not at home, I'm still trying to figure out everything about the friend who might be up to the task of watching the guys... The other thing that he had mentioned was that he was looking at starting up the tank building company again, as well as servicing tanks and all, and hinted at employing me, so that's another reason that I want to sort of foster this connection and all.

Ill definitely keep coming back here with updates, comments, questions, and concerns, and I'm constantly checking if there are any other comments, so feel free to talk this over with me.


Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app