Big River South

[AquaBarb]

He is somewhere between 4 and 5 inches; i've had him for a couple of years so i think he is full grown at this point. The tank is a 29 with 2 hongsloi; 7 sterbai; 9 cardinals; 2 L204; 1 nijjensi (female); and 5 P. maculicauda. In practice it is over crowded; but most of them manage to stay out of sight when I take pictures. The cardinals were meant for the angel tank but they were too small when purchased so when they get larger i might round them up and move them over to the 120. The nijjensi mate died after a few months; i've had her for nearly 2 years now but ended up with hongsloi instead of a new male for her. The L204 - well not sure what to do with them - i have 5 in the 120; i think they will likely stay in the 29 till after i move and setup the 450 and then they will go in the 450 - that'll leave the 29 mostly empty with the hongsloi and L333 (the sterbai will get moved with the other sterbai i have into a 400 with rams and geo).

View attachment 150855

Lovely set up
Ive just looked up the l204 plecs, they look cool aswel.

I was abit apprehensive with putting a pleco in this tank because i have a couple of bigger cichlids. Taking in too account what i paid for the tiger aswel it is a worry but hes knocking on 6' so hes not small himself.

Already colouring up

 

[anewbie]

This is what the L204 look like:

My L333 lives in the coconut shell - he rarely comes out during the day - when I feed them in the evening if he is hungry he'll come out grab a pellet and take it back into his cave. I sometime wonder if it is a female due to smaller size - also the L333 wasn't that expensive - I think i paid $30 for 2 (i eventually gave the other one to the LFS when i was thinning some tanks). The L204 are also inexpensive - around $30 to $40 for each but the first one pictured above was purchased at a petco for $10.

 

[AquaBarb]

This is what the L204 look like:
View attachment 150856

My L333 lives in the coconut shell - he rarely comes out during the day - when I feed them in the evening if he is hungry he'll come out grab a pellet and take it back into his cave. I sometime wonder if it is a female due to smaller size - also the L333 wasn't that expensive - I think i paid $30 for 2 (i eventually gave the other one to the LFS when i was thinning some tanks). The L204 are also inexpensive - around $30 to $40 for each but the first one pictured above was purchased at a petco for $10.

$30 for 2!! Wow ive been robbed lol you could of had 6 and still had change for what i paid think ive paid for the size of mine. Ive seen them online for half the price and size.

Them l204 are really nice, you have a nice group if them too. What do you feed your plecs? Ive got a BN pleco in my 29g i drop wafers and pellets in with a wedge of cuccumber once a week.

 

[anewbie]

Yes size has a huge impact on cost; so a 6 inch full grown L333 is going to be expensive; I think mine were around 1.5 inch when I purchased them. The L333 is a meat eater and he gets omega-one shrimp pellet or hiraki pellet - i mix them up. The L204 are mostly green and wood eaters (similar to bn but they eat a bit more wood than bn); i give them zuc twice a week - sometimes soilen green (not recently) as well as the various pellets. The one I obtain from petco is the nicest of the group - the others are a bit younger and still forming (all of them are 1.5 to 2 years old - but most of them were around 1 inch when purchased). The L204 grow a bit slower than bn and L333. The L204 from petco was before the panademic which might have had some impact; the others were later but 3 of them the guy said he had for 6 months and no one wanted them - one had a damaged tail but it regrew 100%. The thing is that they can be pretty shy - they do eat during the day and come out but it takes very little motion to make them scatter. The first one had the advantage that I babied it - it took me about 3 months to get him to come out in the open to eat but after that he became more adjusted. I'm pretty happy with the L204 in general but i have to becareful not to spook the ones in the 29 since they have a bit of mass to them and can make a mess when they scatter.

 

[AquaBarb]

Yes size has a huge impact on cost; so a 6 inch full grown L333 is going to be expensive; I think mine were around 1.5 inch when I purchased them. The L333 is a meat eater and he gets omega-one shrimp pellet or hiraki pellet - i mix them up. The L204 are mostly green and wood eaters (similar to bn but they eat a bit more wood than bn); i give them zuc twice a week - sometimes soilen green (not recently) as well as the various pellets. The one I obtain from petco is the nicest of the group - the others are a bit younger and still forming (all of them are 1.5 to 2 years old - but most of them were around 1 inch when purchased). The L204 grow a bit slower than bn and L333. The L204 from petco was before the panademic which might have had some impact; the others were later but 3 of them the guy said he had for 6 months and no one wanted them - one had a damaged tail but it regrew 100%. The thing is that they can be pretty shy - they do eat during the day and come out but it takes very little motion to make them scatter. The first one had the advantage that I babied it - it took me about 3 months to get him to come out in the open to eat but after that he became more adjusted. I'm pretty happy with the L204 in general but i have to becareful not to spook the ones in the 29 since they have a bit of mass to them and can make a mess when they scatter.

1.5 inch l333's - how cute they must of been. Id love to see some more of your plec pic's if you have any

Ive noticed the King tiger plec mentioned with a couple of L numbers. The most common are the l333 and l066. Whats all that about? Is it from where they are found in the river systems or maybe different strains

 

[anewbie]

planetcatfish.com is the place to read about them - L333 is larger than L066; slight different pattern and stockier. Here is a picture of a younger L204 - i don't have any others on the computer right now:

His tail hasn't grown the full extension yet.

here is a picture of my male Borelli in a 40B:

And here is a picture of a wild owl who looks stuffed until he turns his head:

 

[AquaBarb]

 

[AquaBarb]

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Getting a Rainbow itch at the moment for this tank. My barb numbers have come down over the last few years and i cant seem to get decent sized ones anymore to up my groups.

So i might get a group of Rainbows instead although im a little apprehensive after a bad experience with a group of melanotaenia praecox.

Like the Boesemani, Behlers and the blue kamaka's

 

[AquaBarb]

The king has a new throne!

Coming out before lights out now, so nice and settled in. Found a favourite spot to graze.


Certainly one of the show stoppers in the tank. My eyes just gravitate to him when his out.

Lovely having a pleco always on show and not hiding. Probably see my Bn pleco once or twice a week.

 

[anewbie]

Yours is a lot more out going than mine; mine stays in his coconut shell all day long. I can sometime get him to poke his nose or tail out if i ask nicely. When i feed him in the evening he will dash out grab a pellet and take it back into his cave. One thing is he used to attack anyone who backed up into his cave but recently he has become much more tolerant of accidental entry by other fishes (his coconut shell is next to the spot i feed the other fishes and in their excitement they will sometime pay him a visit).

 

[Fishmanic]

@AquaBarb
That tank would make another great entry in our Tank of the Month contest. April TOTM will feature tanks sized at 17 to 30 US gallons.

 

[AquaBarb]

Yours is a lot more out going than mine; mine stays in his coconut shell all day long. I can sometime get him to poke his nose or tail out if i ask nicely. When i feed him in the evening he will dash out grab a pellet and take it back into his cave. One thing is he used to attack anyone who backed up into his cave but recently he has become much more tolerant of accidental entry by other fishes (his coconut shell is next to the spot i feed the other fishes and in their excitement they will sometime pay him a visit).

He (i say 'he' because of the size, im not 100%) took too a spot at the front of the tank for the first week or so and come out to eat after lights out. Luckily i could always see him where he was.

He now spends his day in an opening under the large piece of driftwood then grazes the top deck when the lights come on. Seems to prefer skimming the wood and my large anubias leaves to grabbing a pellet etc.

Can you sex kings easily?

 

[AquaBarb]

@AquaBarb
That tank would make another great entry in our Tank of the Month contest. April TOTM will feature tanks sized at 17 to 30 US gallons.

It maybe a little large for April's contest. Its 100 g too big lol

 

[anewbie]

I'm not sure i can; planetcatfish has descriptions - first you have to determine if your is l066 or l333. From size i think it is probably l333 sinze l066 is closer to 5 inches. l333 - they say the ones stay in caves are male so i guess mine is a male !!! They do have compartivie pictures of female and male on the site.

 

[AquaBarb]

I'm not sure i can; planetcatfish has descriptions - first you have to determine if your is l066 or l333. From size i think it is probably l333 sinze l066 is closer to 5 inches. l333 - they say the ones stay in caves are male so i guess mine is a male !!! They do have compartivie pictures of female and male on the site.

That sounds great, ill have a look at Planetcatfish then see if i can find out. Thank you