Gold Nugget Plec L81

[markandhisfish]

im about to order 1 from trimar have just read that they are hard to acclimatise. any advice welcomed please also the tank it will be going in contains new world cichlids and another plec. is this wise?

 

[minxfishy]

Should be ok with your current plec (common isnt it?), acclimatising is a difficult one, normally you'd trickle it IMO to get him used to your tank ph (I suggest you test the ph of the bag water when it arrives to help you work out the difference) but as the bag water will likely contain ammonia from the travelling, then you could do more harm with a slow acclimatisation, as ammonia will become more toxic if your upping the ph.

I would test the bag water for ammonia and ph as soon as it arrives, leave him as long as possible to float to adjust the water temp as play it by ear for the drip acclimatising, if you have no ammonia great, slowly acclimatise, if you have high ammonia, then I would be inclined to temp match and put him straight in, its a toss up to which is worse, ammonia poisoning or ph shock (although if your ph is close to the bag ph you wont have ph shock). Ask Trimar what their ph is, although only an indication as it may change in transit, it would be nice to know how much of a difference your aiming for.

Personally when Ive had fish posted, Ive tested the ph if its close to mine, then after 20/30 mins of temp match, Ive put them straight in, if its a massive change of ph and the ammonia is low, then Ive drip acclimatised and tested the ammonia every 10 minutes to make sure it doesnt rise too much. The ones that have been acclimatised longer have faired less well than those who have been plopped in quicker.

 

[markandhisfish]

i will test the bag water for amonia and hopefully be able to slowly acclimatise to match ph if not i will have to do it more quickly. ok probn stupid question but if there is amonia present in bag water would it work if i took some media from my filter and put it in the bag?

 

[minxfishy]

Unless you have air running over it, ie airstone, then wont make a difference would it? Not a daft question, not something I would have thought of. You could put the bag of water/fish into a bucket with a filter running on it, but it would probably take the filter time to process the ammonia thus leaving the fish in the ammonia too long.

Complicated aint it There is a long dicusssion on acclimatising in the sci part of the forum, follow the link in my sig if it helps to give you a better idea.

 

[markandhisfish]

thought that might be the aswer was an idea that came out off the blue i will just have to acclimatise as slow as the water will allow me

 

[rabbut]

L81 is the large agressive one, and it would have a good go at other pleco's in the tank when adult L18 are less agressive and amaller, thus they are a better option IMO. All Gold Nugets have been known to latch onto larger fish for the slime coat I don't know what L177 is like teperament wise...

You need to drip aclimate. Don't run an airline in the bag, and the low pH (due to CO2 in the water) will keep most of the ammonia in the non-toxic ammonium form during the two hour aclimation Float for about 20 mins and set up an airline with a gang valve in a bucket, letting through 2-5 drips per second. After the floating, allow the airline to fill the bag the plec is shipped in (It should be pegged to the outside of the bucket after opening to hold it open and upright) and then let it loose into the bucket. Then allow the bucket to fill, and transfer across to the new tank

L81 are Byransistrus and so will require twice weekly feeds with meaty foods like muscle, whitebait e.t.c

All the best
Rabbut

 

[markandhisfish]

cheers rabbut useful input as always. i read online that l81 is the smaller 1 tho? i feed prawns twice a week anyway so thats not a problem

planetcatfish.com gives an adult size of 7"

 

[rabbut]

Well, I've kept the L18 before, and it stopped growing at 6". One gets to 6" and the other to 12ish", so I assumed, possibly worngly, that the L18 was the smaller one. I know from experience though that the L81 is deffinately an agressive pleco...

 

[markandhisfish]

its going in with robust tank-mates so should be ok either way i do have another plec as i said before a gibicep but i am in the process of finding it a new home anyway