Hi guys, i'm a new fanatic and after keep fish for a while am looking to breed a few Pleco's,

i'm relatively new to it and i have a few questions and do's and don'ts to ask, so here goes.....

is it best to use wild caught fish ? or a mix of wild and 2/3 generation or is it not completely relevant

should i stay away from fish that have potentially come from the same spawn ( ie 1 male and 1 female)

in the case of say a plec that grows to 15 cm am i looking for fish that are 8 cm and longer and around 2 + years old to be good candidates,

is there any other tips or advice to give on selecting a breeding group,

all the best,

Dave

The best thing for you to do if you've never bred plecos before is to start of with bristlenose. Experience is a key factor in successfully breeding plecos. There's plenty of variations to choose from besides the common so why not give it a shot. My personal favorites are albino longfins but I'm also starting to get into marble longfins

I don't breed so I can't really answer most of your questions, but I can tell you that when breeding, you should try to ensure that the males and females come from different batches. If they are from the same spawn, you could end up with deformaties with the fry.

Other then that, I can just say wait for what the others users say. Good luck with the breeding by the way.

Marbles are a nice fish

i had spoke to a couple of people and i have quite a bit of time to through at this, also i want something to be proud of, i have breed other easy to bread fish and there's not the same sense of attachment as say one you've had to work for, (no disrespect ment to anyone)

there are a few pretty "l's" that i know are well out of my league but as a comprise someone suggested and challenging but not impossible fish to breed is the L183,

my questions where manly aimed at the to be honest,

but if other suggestion is that these will be far to hard i would most definatly have a look at the long fin marbles,

there a really good looking fish

Cheers,

Dave

Good solid breeding section in my book, and it now has a section dedicated to breeding the L number bristlenose. Goes through all the tips and trick that big breeders use.

In short though, yes, you must avoid breeding siblings. However, breeding wilds vs. tank bred that is a personal choice. Personally, considering the high cost of a wild caught compared to a tank bred i would go with tank bred individuals. You wont get any more cash for F1s over F27s at the fish shop or from 95% of buyers so there is no money gain and it will leave a pair in the wild where they belong

as far as selecting your breeders there is also a section on that in the book.

There is a link in my signature

Nice pitch Doug

and thanks for the reply,

hahah i have herd about your book so i'll think i'll give it a whirl, the more info the better,

thanks,

Dave

I bought Doug's book awhile ago. It's very good

Congrats mate, good luck inding some females

yeah i got my eyes open,