Say it isn't so...

[drpleco]

On the bright side, it's good news for peckoltia breeders. I've been looking for L121/L135's for a loooooooong time, and maybe desperation will force some back onto the market now.

But yeah, total bummer otherwise.

[apistomaster]

I had forgotten our previous thread on this subject.
I do still see some Hypancistrus in the US that may have already been in the pipeline but the most well known and popular species are rare. Man, to think I lost a dozen breeding size L333 due to a very unfortunate accident. I had those fish for 18 months and while setting up a bank of new tanks, i stored them and two mated pairs of discus in what was a cleaned plastic garbage can but all the fish died overnight.
I guess we better breed what we have and trade the young among us to try to become more independent on wild fish. That could be a long haul if the list isn't opened up in a year or so.

We have such a thing as a rare species maintenance program in the American Killiefish Association. Brazil also completely banned the export of all the pretty annual Simpsonichthtys spp. for the same reasons. They virtually paved over the type localities of Simpsonichthys boitonei when they constructed the capital city, Brasilia, in what was then, the middle of the jungle. Now we struggle with overly inbred fish but i think the situation regarding gene pool diversity is more favorable among the Hypancistrus spp we already have in our posession such that I think the fish would not become so inbred so easily. Annual killies are well over the hill at 9 months old but Hypancistues live and breed until well over ten years old from what I can tell.
What about PC members banding together to do the same thing? It doesn't have to be done under the auspices of a club but we could work such a program into and within the the PC site and membership.
Jools, perhaps you could give this idea some thought. We already have the core group of breeders who are already PC members. It is much like what we say about fly fishing for steelhead trout. 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the the fish. And so it is among the Hypancistrus breeders vs collectors.
Something to think about and more proactive than depending on the whims of IBMA.


Thanks to everyone for responding and reminding me of the older discussions.

I may pick up a group of a pretty Peckoltia species. Maybe some Peckoltia sp. L168 or similar. I haven't breed any Hypancistrus spp yet but I am trying to catch about 50 L134 from their spawning tank to allow for new broods. I was only half way through when I took a break and logged on to PC.
I have some older juveniles I saved from my first and unplanned spawns that I'm growing out as future breeding stock.


As capricious as these restrictions are, who's to say that Peckoltia could be the next genus to be restricted.

[Yann]

Hi Larry!!

From what I have heard the "new" law is enforced right now...
People of the IBAMA, coming in export companies with ID books...and they have learned and they know how to recognize the fish...

I said "new" as actually it is the old law but the enforcement is better now, because they have the knowledge to avoid being fooled by every fish being called Ancistrus, Hypostomus, Peckoltia or Oligancistrus...

A new list is being worked and should be out soon...once the details and informations needed will be completed...
As you stated, the fish currently available, have been in the market for a while...
Yes, aquarium bred fish should be better spread...and widely encouraged!!

BTW, L169 is a Panaque / Panaqolus species!!! ;)
Cheers
Yann

[apistomaster]

Hello Yann,
Funny, because I realized I meant to write Peckoltia L168 not L69 and came back on line to edit my mistake.
Not a rare or expensive species but maybe good to practice on. I just finsished with my L134 fry hunt and came up with about 50 fry and the breeders appear to be on other spawns.

The more I think about a loosely organized species maintenance program the more I like the idea. As a group, we have bred many Hypancistrus and trading juveniles for other species among breeders makes a lot of sense. I already am trading some L134 for some TR L201. I say L201 because these are not either H. inspector nor H. contradens according to the breeder who's fish were identified by Ingo Seidel. Apparently there are several species that resemble each other. Now, isn't that a surprise.

This problem has been like the unacknowledged elephant in the room for a long time. There is no reason why we can't develop tank raised strains of popular Hypancistrus spp like L66, L260, L333 and many others.

I don't mean to sound elitist, but the practice of buying one of every pleco is really a dead end and should not be practiced. If H. zebra can be cultured then so can any of the others. They may not be the easiest tropical fish to breed but then again, they are not difficult compared to true Symphysodon discus or Pterophyllum altum either.
It is a surmountable challenge worthy of pursuing seriously. I know that many other hobbyists have been working on culturing Hypancistrus and that enough are succeeding to achieve developing larger aquarium populations.

I have been combining the culture of colorful fresh water tropical shrimp in my pleco breeding set ups and it has been working out well. Neither animal interferes with the breeding of the other nor harming the young. The shrimps add a lot of interest to what otherwise can be an apparently empty aquarium.
Barbie and I have often discussed how important patience is to breeding plecos. I'm finding that raising both together really helps me be more patient with the plecos since their first spawns are so often not completely expected or planned. Especially at first. I'm up to five species of shrimp coexisting and breeding with my plecos. My point is just that breeding plecos can be combined with the shrimp which are becoming very popular and help fill in the time and make use of sometimes unproductive tank space.

[DealerDan]

I have been combining the culture of colorful fresh water tropical shrimp in my pl*co breeding set ups and it has been working out well. Neither animal interferes with the breeding of the other nor harming the young. The shrimps add a lot of interest to what otherwise can be an apparently empty aquarium.
Barbie and I have often discussed how important patience is to breeding pl*cos. I'm finding that raising both together really helps me be more patient with the pl*cos since their first spawns are so often not completely expected or planned. Especially at first. I'm up to five species of shrimp coexisting and breeding with my pl*cos. My point is just that breeding pl*cos can be combined with the shrimp which are becoming very popular and help fill in the time and make use of sometimes unproductive tank space.

Larry; that's and interesting point. My species tanks seems like ghostown, most of the time. What type of shrimps are you raising? I heard that Cherry Shrimps is a good match, but I'm leery of putting anything with my L046. Any disease/germs they might carry? Thanks for any info. Dan

[apistomaster]

The Cherry Shrimp, now Neocaridina heteropoda, have been cultured so long that there is nothing about them or any other shrimp, for that matter, than raises any concern of introducing a disease. I kept five juvenile H. zebra in my main Cherry Shrimp tank for six months and I only lost two because they were introduced to another tank too soon. I have a glass planter box along the rear half of my Heckel Discus tank and I added the H. zebra before I replaced the planter box. This was part of a change from old substrate to fine quartz sand. Two Zebras went under the planter box just as I set in down completely. A small bit of wood had propped it up and allowed the zebra under. Without thinking I pulled the stick out and the two plecos were crushed.

I am raising Cherry, Yellow, SnowBall, Tiger and Crystal Red Shrimp. Eventually I want to try some newly introduced shrimp from fresh water lakes of Sulawesi. Although most are only 1/2 inch long, some have colors similar to the blood red Cleaner shrimp kept in reef tanks. These have come from mainly just two lakes. There are many nearby lakes unexplored for shrimp that will undoubtedly contain more spectacular shrimp. Here is the link to the list of available species, photos and info known so far. Their introduction to the hobby began just two years ago so there is still much to learn. Almost all of these are sold for 5/$100.
http://www.planetinverts.com/shrimp_from_sulawesi.html

[racoll]

Reading these posts here and here, with all Panaque spp. also now included on the banned list, I am getting quite concerned as to the affect of all this on populations of non-Brazilian ornamental plecs.

I imagine once the ban kicks in and remaining stocks in LFSs are sold, there will be MASSIVE demand for popular Peruvian and Colombian plecs like Panaque L204 and Hypancistrus contradens. This could have serious impacts on their populations in the wild.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[MatsP]

Possibly, but if Shane is to be believed, for most fish in the Amazon region, it would be near impossible to make them extinct purely by collecting for the trade.

--
Mats

[Fantasticfins]

A friend of mine in Brazil was fined 180,000.00 (Brazillian funds)(approximately 51,000.00 US) yesterday for exporting banned Hypancistrus. He had L-174, L-236, and L-66 packed to export when he was caught at the airport and fined. I think it's finally the end of exportation of my favorite fish as Obama has made an example of my friend. I hope more people are successfully spawning these fish now as the supply will most likely never meet the demand with the strict punishment now being enforced. Calling all Hypancistrus breeders, take supreme care of your fish and produce as many fry as possible. The fish world now needs breeders to keep these marvelous fish in the hobby.