2011 F1 fancy plecos from apistomaster

[Apistomaster]

Hi my pleco seekers. I still have L134, now formally described as Peckoltia compta and well known as the Leopard Frog Pleco and the handsome, Hypancistrus sp L333 for sale this year. Please note my supply of L134 is not as numerous this year as they were as last year and the prices for wild fish are running around $50 to $60 each. My L134 are all at least 10 months old and I have been able to spawn them as young as 2 years old.
This year the L134 will be priced at 6/$240.

The Hypancistrus sp L333 prices will remain the same as last year, 6/$150.

I will only sell in 6 pleco lots but I will accept any mix of my two species totaling 6 or more so if you wish to have a few of each that is fine. The individual prices will be $25 for L333 and $40 for L134 plus shipping and packaging.

All the fish I sell are between 2 and 2-3/4 inches in total length which is about the same size as most of the wild fish when it comes to the Leopard Frogs.
For now, Brazil is still not allowing the collection and exporting of their wild Hypancistrus although L333 are being considered for being placed back on their "fish allowed for export list" but a final decision has not been published as of this time. L333 reach a maximum size in aquariums of about 4-1/2 inches typically.
L134 usually reach a maximum size of about 3-3/4 inches.

I charge a flat rate of $45 to cover Express mail to any of the lower 48 States.
I have a box charge of $10. My actual cost for my boxes is $13.50 and I use breathable bags so 6 of those is about another $1.50. Basically I am going to absorb 1/3 of the cost of my shipping materials and passing on the rest to my customers.

I plan to begin shipping out fish beginning in April but exactly when depends on the prevailing weather between where you and I live. Last year I was able to begin shipping out around April 10th.

I have a large supply of L333 but not so many L134 so it will be a first come first served for the L134 plecos.

I want all to know these are both excellent plecos to keep with Discus but they seem to have trouble digesting a beef heart heavy diet. Once in awhile beef heart is OK but often if they are fed beef heart every day they develop a fatal bloat. They love beef heart but do not have the good sense to eat it in moderation. If you provide them some wood and or some caves they may be kept in bare bottom tanks but they look best in planted tanks where they can replace Corydoras as your primary bottom feeders.
They do best on a diet of frozen blood worms and earth worm sticks but they eat and thrive on all the popular Discus pellet foods. These plecos are best kept at 84*F. They are raised in tap water with a pH of 7.4 and a TDS of about 240 ppm. As long as your water is kept clean and warm, they will thrive in most any tap water or in soft, acid water. If you use soft, acid water you should acclimate these fish carefully but they are native to soft. acid rivers and occur in river systems known for their wild Discus.
Here are some representative photos of the fish I am selling and thank you for looking:
First L134 Leopard Frogs
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/L134Group-Sm.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L134-Smy.jpg
Next, the L333's
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-L-333-Sm-1.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/2-L333-Sm.jpg

[carkichi]

Hi

What is the water parameter you bred your L134?

Thanks in advance, much appreciated

[2wheelsx2]

Very nice Larry. We've spoken before about them, and I think I finally have a tank ready for them this year, so I'm going to keep an eye out for when you are ready to ship.

[Altum Nut]

As usual Larry...they look very healthy. I'm a fan of the L134 but the L333 is very close behind.
I have to say that these prices are very resonable, where in Canada they are offered at a higher price for a smaller plec.
I already have 9 adults for myself, so no room for more.
Grab these guys soon as they will be hard to come by.

...Ralph

[Jennie]

hmmm is Paul gordy going to order any of those. We could share a shipment if so!

[Disgirl]

Larry, those are the most beautiful Plecos I have ever seen! Maybe some day I can get a few. Just gorgeous!
Barb

[Apistomaster]

Thank you all for your welcome words of compliments. I have had 3 seasons of satisfied customers for my plecos so my reputation for sending nice sized healthy plecos is becoming well known. I have sold about 1000 over the past 3 years directly to individuals. My loss rate averaged over the 3 years, is under 1% and these are always resolved to my customer's satisfaction.
Paul Gordy and I are are great friends and fellow fly fishing fanatics.
I sell all the plecos already adapted to my tap water which has a pH of 7.4 and a TDS of 240 ppm. I do breed Leopard frogs in very soft water(40 to 75 ppm TDS) but they are all raised in tap water. When the leopard Frogs are not in their breeding season I Keep them in tap water. It seems helpful to simulate the onset of the rainy season when attempting to breed L134's.
The L333 breed well in tap water.

[DiscusOnly]

I purchased L134 from Larry last year. He is a pleasure to deal with and the L134 are very nice.

[carkichi]

"I do breed Leopard frogs in very soft water(40 to 75 ppm TDS) but they are all raised in tap water. When the leopard Frogs are not in their breeding season I Keep them in tap water. It seems helpful to simulate the onset of the rainy season when attempting to breed L134's.
The L333 breed well in tap water."

Thanks for the above inputs :). One more thing...what size of cave do they like to spawn in?

[Apistomaster]

"I do breed Leopard frogs in very soft water(40 to 75 ppm TDS) but they are all raised in tap water. When the leopard Frogs are not in their breeding season I Keep them in tap water. It seems helpful to simulate the onset of the rainy season when attempting to breed L134's.
The L333 breed well in tap water."

Thanks for the above inputs :). One more thing...what size of cave do they like to spawn in?

Not to sound flippant but the size of the cave only needs to be large enough for a pair to enter and spawn yet small enough for the lone male to block it while brooding the eggs and young fry.
L134 use cave 3/4" x 1" in cross section to 1" x 1-1/2". L333 can use caves about the size of the latter or slightly larger.
My caves are all one half a floor tile deep, 5-1/2" I make rectangular caves from stone finished floor tiles and glued together with aquarium silicone.

[Apistomaster]

I guess it is too late to edit my initial post so I will provide the total costs for 6 plecos, shipping materials and shipping.
6-L134 total is $295.00
6-L333 total is $205.00.
Due to my limited supply of L134 and the fact I will not begin shipping until sometime this coming April, if you wish to guarantee that I reserve your order you may do so by making a down payment of $50.00 to my paypal account.
I will provide all my contact and paypal information via PM initially, then through direct e-mails until your order has been filled to your complete satisfaction.
I have enough L333 that there is no shortage of those to worry about.

[tacks]

Larry do you think the L134 would do well in a planted tank? Water is ph5.5, temp 84, tds60-80. thanks Ed

[Apistomaster]

Larry do you think the L134 would do well in a planted tank? Water is ph5.5, temp 84, tds60-80. thanks Ed

Hi Ed,
Yes, the L134 would do well in that tank. You would need to allow mine some few weeks to gradually acclimate themselves to such soft and acid water(pH 6.4 and TDS about 40 to 75 ppm) because mine are raised in tap water with a pH of 7.4 and ~250 ppm TDS). I breed them in soft, slightly acid water and allow the fry numbers to accumulate and grow a little larger before I move them to grow out tanks. I just reverse my rainy season changes. Begin making 50% water changes ever 4 days but use tap water instead of RO water. As soon as I have matched water chemistry, I harvest the accumulated fry. Then I begin bringing down the hardness and pH again until the end of their breeding season. The little fancy f1 plecos do not handle abrupt changes of ph well. Hardness is less hard for them to adjust to and fairly large steps either up or down, like 50% less or more every 4 or 5 days, is within their coping zone. For me, L134 begin and end breeding within plus or minus two weeks of March 1st and end around Sept 1st. L134 will not bother your plants. They like meat too much. I recommend setting up a row of small caves about 1/3 the back from the front glass and opening towards it. They tend to chose these caves and they need not be deep. Just enough for them to hide in plain sight works well. It isn't perfect but it does usually help plus they tend to be less shy than Hypancistrus zebra. Buy those and you rarely get to see them.
Your tank water is quite similar to the Rio Tapajos where L134 are found as are Discus.

[Jennie]

not nesc. to keep in groups I hope?? I only ordered 3 to separate out.

[tacks]

Hi Larry sorry for the stupid questions. Will I be able to replace my sterbils with these? They will be in a planted tank so do I still have to put caves? The tank is 150 tall 48x24x30, how many would I need? thanks Ed

[Apistomaster]

Jennie,
If you just wish to collect a few different species of small, pretty plecos that is fine. Even just one would not feel lonely. I am glad you choose to get at least 3-L134. The more you have, the more frequently you will see them. Having a number of them makes them come out and compete with each other. I have 10 of my oldest F1 L134 with my 10 F1 Nhamunda Blue Discus and they come out and compete for their share of food. There are also 12 Red Phantom Tetras, 6 Green Neons and a trio of albino long finned Bushy Nose Plecos. I have a sump holding about 12 gal as part of my DIY wet/dry filter and it adds both volume and surface area so my tank is more like a 100 gal when it comes to it's carrying capacity. I also have an Eheim Classic #2217 canister filter and an air stone. The 2 combined filters' hourly water flow through volume is about 1100 gph. Almost 13 X the nominal 75 gal volume of the aquarium. I use the same combination of filters on my 125 gal tank.
Since L134 are one the prettiest of the plecos in the 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 inches range that are still legal to collect for the aquarium trade they have become more expensive than they were years ago when Brazil still allowed the export of many beautiful and small species of Hypancistrus, a close relative to Peckoltia which L134 are one, Peckoltia compta. They were just formally described and name in 2010.
When Brazil banned all Hypancistrus species from the trade it took dozens of beautiful, small species away from the hobby. most are still only known under their "L-Number" or a common name with one prominent exception being the famous Zebra Plecos, Hypancistrus zebra.(Now selling for $125 to $200 each). This has displaced a lot of the fishing pressure to L134 and they are becoming rarer and more expensive. L134 are only from the Rio Tapajos system. Not known to occur in any other rivers that I am aware of. Now the future of the small Brazilian plecos as aquarium fishes depends on successful breeding by mainly hobbyists. Some are fairly easy to breed but most are considered to pretty challenging. Many of those we can no longer get legally but are being bred in captivity, tend to produce small numbers of fry per brood; 10 to 15 is not unusual among the smaller and pretty species. I am working with several species which have only bred a handful of times and provided me with only a few dozen fry over the past 3 years. So now, wild caught fish we once could find on line for as little as $25 just 5 years ago are now selling for $100 for small, tank raised specimens. Many of these small plecos take up to 3-1/2 years before they reach sexual maturity.
L134 are being considered by Brazil's IBAMA, their interior department, as a species which should be given protection and removed from the "allowed aquarium fish species list". They don't have a "banned list", they have an "allowed list" If the fish is removed from the "allowed list", it is by default, banned. That is why most people want 6 or more so because they hope to breed them.

Ed,
Perfectly reasonable question and a good one to raise. I used to breed Corydoras sterbai but I quit after finally selling the last 1000 I raised. They were running $15 each when I decided to breed them but within just a few years they were selling for as little as $5.99 each at the LFS in my small town. I can't afford to raise fish which wholesale for only $2.00 to $2.50. I did have about 18 breeders in my 75 gal but I thought I sold them all. I found later that I missed 3 and they are still in the same 75 gal with the fish mentioned above.
I have been recommending the use of small Hypancistrus and Peckoltia species instead of Corydoras as the bottom feeders in Discus display tanks for many years. One 3-3/4 inch L134 pleco can eat as much as 4 or 5 Corydoras. Partly because they are a little larger but also because they require the same warm temperatures as Discus. That contributes to a higher metabolic rate. There are many Corydoras species which can thrive in Discus temperatures but other than Corydoras sterbai, which are bred in large numbers, the other attractive warm water Corydoras are mostly from warm, clear tributaries of the Rio Negro and those do best in water which is suitable for Heckel and Green Discus. They are, as a group, among the more difficult species to keep and breed. They tend to be among the most attractive of the Corydoras. C. sterbai was one of the first from that area and the only one which has been mass produced by breeders world wide.
With the Peckoltia and Hypancistrus pleco species, Discus temperatures are perfect. I keep mine at 84*F but they can handle 88*F to 90*F for fairly long periods. Most Corydoras would have problems at these highest temperatures. 80*F is too cool for the Plecos I have. They can live in 80*F water but they will not be as active nor would they breed.

[Skip]

hey.. how big to these guy get up to?

[Apistomaster]

hey.. how big to these guy get up to?

The Hypancistrus sp L333 usually max out at 4-1/2" and those tend to be males; females closer to 4 to 4-1/4 inches. Common Bushy Nose frequently reach a larger size than this species.

Peckoltia compta(L134) males reach about 3-3/4 inches and females about 3-3/8 to 3-5/8 inches.

These are all total lengths and the fish would be over 3 years old. The sizes frequently overlap between males and females. A lot depends on how well fed and cared for they are.
Both species can begin breeding at 18 to 24 months old although most fish will begin breeding. when they are 30 months old. The remaining L134 I have are so nice I have been considering keeping many of them as more future breeders. I began breeding my first generation L134 which is a relief since my original wild L134 breeders did not spawn for the first time in six years. I have placed my old L134's into retirement in my show tanks. Half with my Nhamunda Blue Discus and the rest in my planted Tetra tank.

The records for wild fish captured may be about 1/2 inch longer than the above sizes but those are exceptionally large specimens.