L134 and L333 Pleco special

[Apistomaster]

I am running a special from now to April 15th for L134 and L333 where you pre-order 6 and make a $50 deposit to reserve your order at the special prices. When weather permits safe mailing I will send 6 and add one more for free. The postage is paid by the buyer. We will coordinate a mutually agreeable shipping time based on the weather.
The L134 are 6/$240 plus one free. They are assorted sizes from 1-1/2 to 2 inches
The L333 are 6/$150 plus one free. They are assorted sizes from 1-1/2 to almost 2 inches.
Be sure to first send me a pm then we will exchange all our contact information and work out all details by e-mails., not pm's.
All the fish are 8 to 10 months old. Valid for only the lower 48 states.

[Richweg]

Sounds like a great deal. I am definitely interested in the L134. Let me know how you would like to proceed as far as setting up the deposit. My email is richardweglinski@yahoo.com if you wish to contact me that way.

Thanks

[Apistomaster]

Some new photos of the Plecos for sale.
Here are 2 photos of the L333's.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-L-333-Sm.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L333-Sm.jpg

These are 3 photos of the L134 aka Leopard Frog Plecos.
The one one the right has some of the fine river sand sprinkled on him; it is not Ich.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/L134Group-Sm.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/L134Group-2-Sm.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L134-Sm.jpg

[JeffreyRichard]

AWESOME fish ... will have to think about this ... Nice job.

[Apistomaster]

Hi Jeffery,

Thanks a lot. In these photos the L134 are frightened out of their wits in the small photography tank so they lost most of their warm yellow orange glow.
I will have to post the photos which I edited to make them look like they normally do.
The black and white L333 colors didn't change as much and I didn't try editing any to restore their normal color but these are of the yellow and dark brown color form. Their parents are that color and when they are not frightened the young ones have a yellow cream cast with dark brown markings. There exists some populations of L333 which are black and white but those aren't the type I raise. The majority of the Brazilian species of Hypancistrus share some variation of black and white, the most famous example of that are the really expensive Zebra plecos. Even for us hard core Discus types, fish which sell sometimes for more than $200 each is getting way out there.
I have been able to raise a few Queen Arabesque Plecos, L260. They have proven difficult to breed for me but I have 20 1 over 1-1/2 inches which I was able to get from a couple of spawns. They only give me about 10 fry per spawn and they grow so incredibly slowly that they really try my patience. It took them almost one year to reach that size.
OTOH, no species of small plecos I have bred grow as quickly as L134. They attain 1-1/2 in a little less than 6 months. All of the L134 I have for sale are 8 to 10 months old. They only breed for me from about March 1 to Sept 1 give or take 2 weeks. I just had my first brood come out of their cave around Feb 18th. They mark the beginning of my 3rd spawning season with them but I am one female short than in the past so I don't expect to raise as many this year. I lost her because I didn't notice she was hiding in a crevice in a piece of wood I from the breeding group's tank. It was just one of those things and I only discovered she was missing when a dried L134 fell out of that piece of wood. They usually produce about 25 fry per spawn. My largest breeder male L134 is only about 3-5/8 total length and I have had them for 5 years. I think that is a nice size for one of the prettiest of all the small pleco species.
These are all from very warm river systems and need to be kept at 84 to 86* which is the same as I keep my Discus at. That is also why I am being careful not to ship[ them until I am fairly sure they won't get chilled. I expect to begin shipping out fish beginning April 15th when this special is over. It should be warm enough by then I won't have to worry much about them arriving well. Because they like the same warm water and mainly meaty diet they are very good catfish to keep with Discus. In fact L134 are from the Rio Tapajos and L333 are from the lower Rio Xingu; both systems are noted for their Discus. I feed the catfish I breed mostly earth worm sticks and frozen blood worms. It was from these experiences that learned that Discus also like earth worm sticks. The Discus I have now are all wild and there has never been a time since I bought them that they didn't also go after the sticks. I find it a very happy coincidence that I can use the same foods on both my favorite groups of fish.

[vera]

Wonderful Plecos Larry!!
i have L260 male and fem for 3 years ..and they never spawned :(do u mind to share tips to get them in the mood
Tnx a lot

[tdo]

i'm interested in the l134 plecos! how much would the shipping be to 68505? lincoln nebraska.

[Apistomaster]

i'm interested in the l134 plecos! how much would the shipping be to 68505? lincoln nebraska.

The postage runs about $35 to most everywhere.

[ssevasta]

Hi Larry would you mind to post some recent photos of the L134 im super psyched to get my hands on some. :)

[erikc]

Congratulations Larry, those are some really nice fish you have there and a great breeding programme going. Whish I could get my hand on some of them !

[Apistomaster]

I have my first spawns of F2 L134's!! This is kind of a big deal. I have been told 2 year old fish could breed but now i have about 4 new broods that prove it. These yonger females are only yielding about 15 fry per brood but their brood sizes will increase with age. My original wild L134 breeders must be at least 6 years old.
I have about 3 dozen 2 year olds I retained for brood stock. Now I have to set some up in proper breeding tanks. My young females actually bred with my older wild males.
I won't have any young from this season available until about 4-1/2 months from now.
I currently have only enough of my larger L134 to fill maybe 5 more orders under the terms of my spring special.

Breeding L260 is not easy. I had 4 spawns in the winter of '08/'09. Then I moved them to a new breeding tank in what I thought was in time to catch their apparent preference to breed in the late fall into winter but they did not spawn for me this winter.
Other than taking good care of them and keeping them in soft water the key to breeding any of the smaller fancy plecos is extreme patience. The oldest fry are now 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches but I am still short about 20 fish of my goal for future breeders. One of my customers told me he bought some fry hardly an inch long for $65 each. 1.That is too small for any breeder to be selling young plecos. The risks of loosing some that small are high unless you have previous experience raising Zebra Plecos or other L260 fry. 2. Their prices will only be going up, kind of following the path the Zebra Plecos have taken.
My advice is to pursue other breeding projects and hope your L260 spawn. Meanwhile breed some more predictable fish to help keep your interest up.

My photos aren't even a month old. I tried to fetch some of L134 which I photoshopped to render them in their normal colors of more yellow orange and brown but photobucket was doing "maintenance" so I'll try again tomorrow but 3 weeks is not enough time to make a difference so I don't know what is expected out of "newer photos". It was a PITA to catch them and set them up in a special photo tank to take the photos I did. I'm not doing it again with this group of fish. Here is a link where you can see the color correct L134 photos way down the thread. Best I can do now.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29321

My advice is if you want some of my older, larger plecos then better order before April 15th because if any are left after that the price will be the same for 6 fish but you won't get a 7th one free.
There won't be any more until about 4-1/2 months from now and those will be barely meet my 1-1/2 inch minimum size.
I raise my plecos to a larger size than most before I will sell them. This assures me of having satisfied customers.
BTW, The links to the true colored fish are already given below in my signature. Copy and paste them into your browser.

[vera]

Tnx for info and sound advice
Take care

[Apistomaster]

L134 Normal color
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L134-Smy.jpg

L134 Fright colors
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/L134Group-Sm.jpg

L333
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L333-Sm.jpg

L333
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-L-333-Sm.jpg

Sale ends after April 15th.

[DiscusOnly]

The L134 are just beautiful!

[Apistomaster]

The L134 are just beautiful!

My bias aside, I think L134 are the prettiest of the small Brazilian pleo spp only surpassed by H. zebra and maybe the even more expensive Hypancistrus sp L236 which are extremely rare.
The L134 are the best best value among the smaller plecos, especially since Brazil imposed an export ban on all their Hypancistrus species. The ban greatly reduced our selection of small pretty plecos.

The L333 I raise are also now illegal to export from Brazil so for all of these plecos captive breeding is necessary if we are to retain them in the hobby.

[DiscusOnly]

Larry,

The L046 is still my number #1 choice but I just can't justify the price. Seeing your updated pictures of the L134, it got me interested.

Van

[DiscusOnly]

I got my 6 L134 from Larry today. They look fantastic!

Thanks Larry

Van

[born2lovefish]

Very Very tempting too. If I did not have a few grand due in tuition soon, I would have considered. Nice looking plecos!

[Apistomaster]

Thank you to everyone who ordered fish and also to those compliments were appreciated.
This sale terminated as of April 16, 2010. I still have some L134 available and a lot of L333 so I will still be taking orders. Please write for information about new orders/prices.
There are changes from the terms of this recent sale that are important that apply to new orders. Box charge is now extra and at my cost of $13. Postage has been running $45 per box. It doesn't seem to matter where you live in the lower 48 states when it comes to the postage.

[sully1000]

Looking for L134. I know this thread is old, but thought I'd ask.

Could you send me a PM, Apistomaster? My post count is too low to PM you at this time. Don't keep discus anymore, so rarely visit this site.

Thank you.

[Apistomaster]

I still raise L333 and L134 but I won't begin selling them again until next April when it is warm enough to safely mail them.
The price for L134 will be higher. My supply of large specimens is limited and the wild fish are now going for up to $60 each and Brazil may be adding L134 to their list of protected species and fishing and export will be illegal. Many other desirable plecos are already on this list and that resulted in excessive fishing pressure on the remaining species. Furthermore, the record drought of this last dry season will greatly reduce the populations of many popular aquarium species as the present high prices already reflect. I used to sell my L134 for 6/$240+box +freight and I only ran a sale last year. They will be at least that much next spring.
I will open a new thread for the plecos I have for sale next spring.

[Mobatic]

Cant wait to see em.

[Apistomaster]

Nor can I wait for next April when I can resume safely sending them by USPS Express Mail.

Only 2 more months to go before the beginning of my L134 breeding season. They only breed for me from about March 1 to Sept 1. Then they take a break for about the next 6 months.

My L333 breed all year long.

[CajunAg]

PM sent

[Apistomaster]

This listing was for last year and is no longer in effect.
I will start a new listing soon.
I do not have as many L134 ready to sell this year as I did last year and although my L134 breeders should beginning spawning again soon, I have no guarantee they will.
I always sell fish which are very close to the same size as most wild caught imports. I never sell one inch juveniles as a few other breeders do.
The prices for wild L134 have been running $50 to $60 on published lists recently but I will not charge that much but my prices will be slightly higher in 2011 than they were 2010. I will also have to charge for my shipping boxes and account for the raised postage rates. All I can definitely assure all is I will sell my fish for a lower price than the wild fish and that my tank raised fish do not have a loss rate any where nearly as high as is experienced among the wild fish because they are in better condition and disease free. Most of my supply of L134 plecos range from 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 inches. I grow them out for about 10 months before I sell them.
Some breeders have been able to breed L134 as young as 18 to 24 months so I am giving my fish a good head start for those of you who hope to eventually breed them.

Both these species need warm temperatures like Discus but I have found that these meat eating plecos should not be fed a lot of beef heart. They love the stuff but their digestive systems seem to have trouble digesting beef heart except for a couple times a week. Beef heart often leads to a fatal bloat. I have L134 living with my 10 F1 Nhamunda blues but I rarely feed them beef heart blend more than one time a week.
I have learned this the hard way between my experience with loosing 10 Zebra plecos I was keeping with a pair of wild Blue Discus and a good friend who has Stendker Brilliant Turquoise. He has lost most of his L134 in a tank of these Discus which received one daily meal of beef heart blend. So please keep this vulnerability in mind. Beef heart is not necessary to keep Discus well so avoid unnecessary risks and Zebra plecos are a species best kept alone or with a few small Tetras and Cherry Shrimp. I do not raise Zebra Plecos yet but the dietary requirements are the same for all Hypancistrus and Peckoltia species of plecos. I do hope to replace my Zebra plecos and eventually produce enough to sell. They cost about $1600 minimum for me to buy 10 juvenile 1-5/8 inch specimens plus freight. It usually takes over 3 years to get them to breeding age.

My L333 prices will not be increasing. They are easier to breed and more productive. Only the box charge and postage will increase their total cost slightly. They will remain at 6/$150 for fish 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 inches.