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