Spawning “My” Hypancistrus sp. L236
by Eric Bodrock
Over the past several years, the L236 has become the Holy Grail for many
catfish enthusiasts. And just as the mysteries, legends and questions of the true
identification and whereabouts of the biblical Holy Grail exist, they also apply to
the Hypancistrus species L236 catfish! It arises often in conversations amongst
hobbyists that the L236 that everyone wants should look like the one pictured on
the front cover of the book ‘Back to Nature Guide to L-Catfishes’, by Ingo Seidel
published in 2008. This debate over the existence of an L236 is endless, with
everyone having their own opinion. I can tell you now that I’m not going to add
any of my opinion here, just the facts and photos of the fish I acquired as L236
and my success with spawning them. You can be the judge as to whether they are
the “real deal” or not. I have been hesitant to write this article for a while now,
but after talking to several well known catfish experts, they see no reason not to,
believing that my fish are in fact accepted in the hobby as L236.
While attending the 2009 Aqua Ark Convention in Norway I was fortunate
enough to have the opportunity to get my hands on a group of 6 tank raised fish,
sized about 2.5” in total length. The host club purchased a group of them to place
in the convention’s auction. I would have loved to have purchased more but the
starting auction price was equivalent to $350 US dollars each! They came from a
breeder in Bergen Norway who obtained his breeders from Aquarium Glaser in
Germany. I made contact with him in Nov. 2009 and confirmed the information.
The fish travelled well
back to the States, but
after the first month I
ended up losing one of
them. At that point I
decided to take a close
look at the fish I had in
an attempt to sex them.
It appeared that I had
two males and three
females. The most
obvious signs were the
larger pectoral fins with a
much thicker spine and
the presence of
odontodes on the sides of
their heads and pectoral
fin spines. They were all
housed in a thirty gallon
breeder tank, 36” x 18” x
12”. The tank had a thin
layer of natural stream
sand covering the bottom
and a formation of rocks and ceramic caves filled the middle ground. A Hamburg
Matten filter with two air driven lift tubes kept the water in excellent condition.
Water temperature was maintained at or near 78°F (25.5°C) with a pH at 6.8.
Water changes of 50% were done weekly.
Original diet consisted of a wide variety of foods including live foods such as:
blackworms, daphnia, glassworms, and baby brine shrimp. Frozen foods:
bloodworms, plankton, mysis shrimp, chopped krill & earthworms and a few
assorted dry pellet foods. More recently I have added Repashy super gel foods to
their diet which they eagerly accept. I must mention that since my adults, along
with the young that are growing out, receive this array of foods, it tends to give
them a slight yellow or orange cast to their coloration instead of the white color
as the original fish had. (Just what we need to help confuse the fishes ID!) My
guess is the live baby brine, plankton and krill brings this color out in them.
In July 2010, just eight months after I got the fish, I had my first spawn. They
are typical Hypancistrus style spawners; the male allowed a female to enter his
cave and they spent a couple days together inside. Once the female left the cave,
the male spent most of his time
in the back covering the eggs,
rarely moving close to the
opening. As the fry got close to
absorbing their eggs sacs, at
around a week and a half, the
male began to get a little more
active inside the cave, probably
due to the fact the fry were
moving around a good bit.
This would be the time to
separate the fry from the male
and/or get them out of the
spawning tank. One option is
remove the entire cave with the male inside and place it into another tank until
the fry voluntarily leave the cave. Another option is to simply leave them alone
and let the fry take their chances in the
spawning tank. If you choose to do this,
make sure you have plenty of small, tight
hiding places where the fry can hide and
make sure the adults are well fed. I always
keep in mind that for the most part: big
fish eat small fish! The method I prefer is
to remove the fry from the cave. To do
this, fill a cooking baster completely with
water from the fishes tank; while holding
the cave upside down (out of the water)
right over a plastic container full of tank
water, I gently place the tip of the baster
inside the cave along side the male, close
to the back of the cave, and give a firm
squeeze on the bulb of the baster squirting water and washing out the fry. The fry
will usually flow right out and pour into the container. Repeat several times to get
all the fry out. Make sure you don’t slam the water in too hard and quickly, you
want to avoid killing any of the fragile young fry with too much force.
The fry began feeding even though there was a little of their egg sac still
showing. Live baby brine is taken from the start, along with many of the same
foods that the parents receive,
but I would chop them up to a
much finer size. The fry at first
are mainly white with a little
black peppering on them.
Within a few weeks patterning
begins to appear and at this
time it is obvious that they are
extremely variable in their
patterns, colors and amount of
striping each individual fish will
have. I would say the fry grow
rather quickly for the first
couple of months, then, like so
many other Plecostomus, growth rate slows to a pain staking crawl. In addition,
the fry tend to hide for most of the time as do the parents.
The size of the spawns can range from about ten to twenty eggs, with fifteen
being about average. They do not appear to be seasonal spawners as mine have
spawned all year round. While I have had several spawns from the group, I have
found only three or four with striking colors and well defined markings similar to
the desired “book cover photo” fish that I mentioned earlier. (See the last two
photos in this article). This just adds fuel to the fire on the debate on the real
identification of the species. Are
they just simply that variable,
are they natural occurring
hybrids, can they be selectively
breed for a desired color and
pattern and so on. Regardless
to whatever the answer, or what
you want to believe, there is
little debate on the fact they are
all good looking fish!
I kept my first eight young
from the 2010 spawn, now at
just over two and a half years of age; they have not spawned yet, but are at the
same size that my original breeders were when they began to spawn. I believe
they should start spawning soon as three years old seems to be the age at which
many of the Hypancistrus reach sexual maturity.
So there you have it, the story behind “My” L236. I’m sure this will raise some
questions and many folks will form or have an opinion, but unfortunately I’m
afraid there is nobody with definitive answers on this alluring fish! JEB 1/2013